Bridging the Gap
by lxk
Summary: Based on captainkodak1's Tunnel Vision. What would happen if Shego had succeeded, and stranded Kim and Ron in the past? Many thanks to the captain for being ok with this!
1. Gone, daddy, gone

**Author's note: Ok, this is gonna get tricky…**

**I read captainkodak1's fic "Tunnel Vision", and was so moved by it, I couldn't get it out of my head. And, the idea formed to work off his fic to create an alternate take. **

**This fic diverges from chapter 9 of the captain's fic. If you haven't read it, do so. I'll be waiting here for you when you come back.**

**The characters aren't mine, neither are they the captain's. Except for maybe one or two.**

**So, a special thanks and a right-hand salute to captainkodak1 for being ok with this. **

**Happy reading.**

**Bridging the Gap**

"Eng! Eng! Damnit, can anyone hear me?" The shouts of Dr. James Possible echoed thru the hall. He coughed from the smoke that billowed out from the room he was approaching. He reached the door, and while attempting to cover his mouth, punched in his combination on the keypad next to the door.

His eyes widened when he saw the devastation in the room. The flames had engulfed most of the room. Everything that wasn't made of metal was burning, and everything made of metal had either buckled from the heat or melted outright.

He made his way in, stumbling towards the control panel. Dr. Eng, his colleague and friend was lying on the floor unconscious. His hands and face were covered with burns and James winced when he saw them. If his wife had been there, she most likely- scratch that, she would have known what to do. James acted on instinct, throwing Dr. Eng over his shoulder. The walk back towards the door was painful, with Dr. Eng's weight added to his back, and his own lungs screaming bloody murder. James reached the door, and punched the keypad again, making sure the doors closed.

He tried to remember whether or not anyone else was supposed to be in the lab, and found that no, Eng was alone in there. Or, should have been. Obviously, Shego had gotten in. Another coughing fit sent him kneeling to the floor. Just as he thought he was going to pass out, he saw the emergency fire team approaching.

If it hadn't been for the fact that he was headed towards the lab at that point, they would have beaten him there.

If it hadn't been for the fact that he was late, he would have been in there when the explosion occurred.

If it hadn't been for his wife demanding a few extra minutes of his time before he left his office, he wouldn't have been late.

Once again, Ann saves my life, he thought, as he passed out from exhaustion.

* * *

The fire was put out swiftly by the fire team, who promptly continued on to other parts of the Middleton Space Center which had been set ablaze. Only two members of the team remained to make sure the fire wouldn't erupt again. After a few minutes, a diminutive figure entered, and surveyed the situation. Grimly, he realized what all this meant. He swallowed.

"They're gone…", he whispered. Wade Load usually didn't panic, and he didn't this time either. Instead, he slowly walked back out the door, dejected. As he walked to the outside of the center, he had to stop himself along the way, either to vomit or to catch his breath.

James removed his oxygen mask in anger. "Damnit, I've had enough of this! Unless you get my wife down here right now to physically restrain me, I'm going back in there!" The EMT beside him sighed, wondering if he was going to have to tie the man down or just sedate him.

"Mr… James. Calm down." James turned to face the voice. He saw Wade standing two yards away.

"Wade, have you seen it? Is there anything left? I could make out-"

"They put the fire out, but…" Wade sighed. "Shego must've hit the liquid nitrogen tanks we used to cool the computer… The explosion… The computer is gone." James stared at the twelve year-old standing in front of him.

"What about the Kerr hole, do we still have it? Is there still a connection?"

"No, James, we lost that too." Wade let the implication set in.

"I've got to get in there. Eng must've tried to transfer to back-up-"

"I've already checked. We got less than fifteen percent. She was… Shego took us all by surprise and… And it was too much data to transfer. I'm not sure that even would have worked."

"Wade, there must be something left in there we can use! We got to get the Kerr hole open again! If we can do it before we lose the temporal connection, before they were supposed to jump, we might get it back on track!" Wade brought his hand up and wiped away some tears that were pooling in his eyes.

"James… Everything's destroyed. We can't get anything from the back-up Eng tried to make, the back-up we had is useless without the Kerr hole and… and we won't be able to get anything from the original drives."

James breathed heavily, taking it in. "Wade… that means that Kim and Ron are stranded in North Carolina a hundred years ago. I won't… accept that. Now get me to the biggest computer you can find, the specs for the Kerr hole inducer and every bit of hardware you can find. The reconstruction starts now." With that, he tore off the mask and started to walk towards the center doors.

"James, you can't possibly… The Kerr hole inducer alone would take at least two weeks for a crew of fifty to build! And even then, to match the exact temporal calibration…" James was walking away still, and Wade was having trouble keeping up. "Dr. Possible, listen to me!" He tried.

"NO, YOU LISTEN! I am NOT leaving my daughter stranded in Kitty Hawk! If you don't think I can do it, CHECK MY NAME! Just get me the cough biggest coughcough damn computer cough that…" With that, James collapsed to the ground for the second time on the same day.

* * *

"James… please open the door. It's Ann." Ann waited for a response. None came. She took matters into her own hands and opened it herself instead. Any attempts to bring him the door seemed doomed to fail.

Inside his office, James sat by his stationary computer, staring as lines of code ran by on the screen. "Ann…", he said softly.

"James... Talk to me. Please. You've been holed up in here for a week now." Silence. "I know… I know how you feel, but you have to stop. Everyone says that it's hopeless. And I know it's hard, but… We can't bring them back." James paused the sequence that was running.

"What are they saying, Ann?"

"I can't even begin to understand this James, you know that." Silence. Ann sighed. "To make a new Kerr hole with the same frequency as the first is practically impossible. And even if you do, you'd still have to have a computer with the matching data, which can't be done. You told Dr. Eng so yourself, if you tried to reset the computer, they would be stuck. That's what Dr. Eng said anyway. He says hi, by the way, he's out of danger."

"Well, I have to try." Ann hung her head.

"We need you, James. I need you. Jim and Tim need you. I know why you have to try, but… You have to face the fact that we're not going to see them again."

James looked at his wife, then back at the computer. "Tell Jim and Tim that I'll be home later. I just have too see if I can figure out a way…" Ann frowned. Slowly, she walked back out, tears forming in her eyes. As she stepped out, she was met by Jean Stoppable, the woman who would most likely have become an in-law if not for… Jean saw Ann's distress, and quickly embraced her.

"He's never been like this before", she said in between sobs. "I mean… he usually gets caught up in his work, but he's never… He's never gone this far. I don't know what to do, and Jim and Tim need their father right now." Jean looked at her, then looked at the door.

"Go home, Ann. I'll see if I can reach him." Ann looked at the woman, who had in the last few days become one of her best friends. "Worth a shot", Jean concluded. Ann nodded, and watched as Jean proceeded to enter the room, as she herself started walking towards the exit.

"Take it from one who's lost her only child, James. Don't ignore the ones you still have." James paused the sequence again and looked away from the screen. He sighed.

"I know, it's just…. It's my girl, you know? I can't…. I can't abandon her. I won't abandon her. I know Ann's thinking of the twins right now, but…. She's my little girl."

"I understand, James. It's my little boy, too." James looked at her. "I think you and I are the same when it comes to Kim and Ron, respectively. We know that they're supposed to be able to take care of themselves, but, and they can, but…"

"But we still see them as kids." James said sullenly.

"Yeah. Perhaps even moreso because…" Jean paused for a moment. "Mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, that's what my mom used to say. Fathers try to impart their best wisdom and encourage their sons to stand for themselves, same with mothers and daughters. But fathers and daughters, mothers and sons… They're always gonna be our babies, no matter what. Biggest mistake I ever did in my life was to listen to Gene when he thought it would be good for Ron to tough it out at Camp Wannaweep. I know it would probably be for the best in long run if Ron learned to take care of himself… But every instinct told me to rush out and take him home. And I should have." James looked at her, remembering that summer. Things suddenly fell into place with Jean's words.

"My biggest mistake was not to trust Ron as much as Kim di-does. The whole teenaged boy thing… freaks me out. And I know", he said, sighing, "that Ron isn't like the other boys, but…" Jean smiled.

"You tell me. I feel so stupid right now. I don't understand how I could have nagged at him so much about finding a nice Jewish girl, when I damn well knew that everything he ever wanted was the Irish-Catholic girl down the street." James chuckled, and scratched his neck.

"So… you've come to tell me to give it up too?"

"Hell no." James raised an eyebrow. "That's my baby out there, and I'll walk through hell barefoot before I give up, and I don't see why you wouldn't do the same. But I do think you should take a break. See your boys." James took a sharp breath. "And when you've done that, you get some help. You can't do this on your own."

"I can't do this at all", James replied dejectedly. "The computations… astronomical numbers are as familiar to me as the back of my hand, but even I don't know if there's a word for how complicated these computations are. And I do this for a living."

"So, you get some help. People who have different ideas. I don't know much about this, but… Can't we just… ignore the frequency? Just grab them out of the time stream?"

Wheels began spinning in James' head.

"It… it could be done…. If we could figure out…. The exact space… and time… We would need… enormous data capacity…" He began rifling thru his desk for a pen and a piece of paper he hadn't scribbled some piece of code on.

"James? What… what are you saying?"

"If we can figure out the exact point in space they're at, at a given time, probably tack on a bit of space for safety…. We could use a Kerr hole to drag them out!" Jean gasped. "But it would take…. The computations are possible to do, but we'd have to do it practically by hand, and we'd have to have the largest hard drive in history, as well as some technology we'd have to invent all by ourselves." Jean grabbed him by the collar.

"But it can be done?" James pondered.

"Yes. I think so. But you're right; I'm going to need help." Jean smiled.

"Your word is good enough for me. Now, go home, see your kids, and get some sleep. We'll get the help you need." James stood up; almost fell over from the rush of blood to his head. He gave Jean a big hug, and kissed her on the cheek, before running out, as fast as his legs could carry him. Jean remained in the room, standing still and only breathing, trying to hold back her tears.

"Mommy's coming, Ron. Mommy's coming to take you home from that nasty camp."


	2. Cypher House

"Wade? I just talked to Dr. Bortel, and-" James stepped out of his office, holding a notepad in his hands. Wade walked up behind him, practically unseen. James jerked in surprise when he saw him.

"-You're/I'm gonna need me/you to make room for his algorithms, preferably on the same servers as the other size modulation computations", they finished together. James stared at the boy next to him.

"Ok, Radar, are you tapping my phone, now?"

"James, that was a three-way convo, I just didn't say anything." Wade said, shrugging. "Anyway, I should be able to fit it in with the other stuff. That's in…" He fished out a pocket computer, resembling the kimmunicator to a great extent. "…Columbia University. Right. Well, Professor Carlson has done a good job so far, guess a few more terabytes should be no problem to explain to the dean…"

James smiled. The last six months had been, in some ways the best of his life, despite also being the worst. After Kim and Ron had gotten stranded, he had tried to solve the situation by himself. Needless to say, it was hopeless. Even when he had realized how he could conceivably get them back, it was a job he wasn't going to be able to handle himself. And that's when the surprises started coming.

Everywhere he went, no matter the scientist or the field, everyone eagerly agreed to help him. Even when he told them of how they would never be able to let the world know of the new time machine they were building, they agreed. Even when he told them of how the new inventions and theories they came up with could never be patented or published, they agreed. Even when he told them of how every step of this way would be enough to give any one of them a Nobel Prize, but that they would never receive it, they agreed.

James had cried a lot the last six months, but he never would have thought after that first week, that so many would be shed in gratitude and happiness.

The group of scientists currently involved spanned the entire world, and numbered over 300. Because of that, the work had gone much, much faster than he had ever thought possible. Even for a Possible. He had thought five years was a minimum. Four years a miracle. Six months was divine intervention on every level.

"With Dr. Bortel's new algorithms, we can expand the field we can grab by 3 cubic feet. That should be enough, I think." James was soaring with delight. That meant that they could transfer an entire room from the past to the here and now. Along with the fact that the construction of the new Kerr hole inducer and trap-chamber was almost complete, and that the computations for the space-time localizers were nearly done, that meant that they were so close to their goals he could almost taste it. Wade smiled, thinking the same thing.

Suddenly, out of Wade's side pocket, Rufus popped out, and scurried up until he was standing on Wade's head, waving a few post-its towards James.

"Yeah, Rufus, I was just getting to that! We got a few messages too… Dr. Director is upping our security, seems that Shego tried to escape again. She failed, but still." James frowned. Hadn't that damn woman caused enough grief? He made a mental note to call Betty and thank her for the concern. Wade continued.

"Dr. Hökar called, he just wanted to know that his daughter painted a nice picture of Kim that he'll fax over… and your wife wanted to know if you'd be ok with lasagna tonight." Ann had tried to help the project any way she could, but since physics weren't really her field, her work had been pretty scarce. Instead, she'd focused on keeping things as normal as she could for the twins, as well as keeping up appearances that everything was alright. As far as the world knew, Kim and Ron were on a very special assignment, and while the speculation had been rampant, showing the world that their families didn't seem to worried, the media held back on rampant speculation.

"Hnh hnh! Lasagna bleah! Cat food!" Rufus commented.

"For him, not you! Oh, and, uhh… Gene and Jean called, they're headed back to Kitty Hawk." Wade finished reading the list of messages.

"Kitty Hawk? I thought they were focusing on the New York trail?" The Stoppables had taken on the task to locate some place in time that Kim and Ron could be retrieved from. It had been problematic. The teens had done their best to stay out of history, which meant that they were hard to find.

The Kitty Hawk trail ran cold after finding out that records from the time had been destroyed by a fire in the fifties. Other trails had been found, reports of people fitting Kim and Ron's descriptions showing up at places like Verdun, the assassination attempt of President Theodore Roosevelt and the San Francisco quake of 1906. The reports never mentioned their names, however, nor were there any photos to find, except that one from Kitty Hawk, of Kim, Ron and the life savers. But grabbing them at that moment in time would result in the entire team of rescuers being transferred, not just Kim and Ron.

The best trail, however, was a food column in The New York Times from 1927, raving about "the interesting experiments in Texan-Mexican fusion made by intrepid chef Ron Sinkable." Ron's name had been confused by the media so many times, it seemed like a plausible fit.

"I don't know", Wade replied, "but they got a call about a… painting, I think."

"Painting? Not even a photo?" Wade shrugged at James question. The attempt to find Kim and Ron was not science, it was detective work, and as such, difficult on an entirely different level. "Ok, have them call back, so we can have a chat later", James said, and re-entered his office. An hour to go, then lasagna.

* * *

Gene and Jean Stoppable entered the Cypher Hotel. The hotel was a familiar sight, they'd stayed there during their first visit to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in search of traces of Kim and Ron. They approached the desk, and rang the bell. After a few moments, a man popped out of the back room.

"Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable! I didn't expect you back so soon!" Doug Cypher was honestly surprised, given that he'd only called them about his new discovery 12 hours ago. "I thought you were looking for your traces of your ancestors in New York?"

"We were", Gene responded. "But we take a much greater interest in their time here in Kitty Hawk. Now, you mentioned something about a painting?"

"Well, right to business, is it?" Doug smiled. He remembered how serious the couple had been about their genealogy project the last time they were there. "Ok, then." He led them to the foyer, and they sat down around a table. He picked up a framed picture of a woman, a woman that looked astoundingly like an adult version of Kim.

"After you left, I remembered this painting. It's been sitting in the attic since I was a child. I didn't realize until after you left, but it could be the ancestor you were talking about."

"Our great grandfather's sister in law.", Jean added. The cover story they used was that they had discovered a family connection between the Stoppables and the Possibles other than the present. In the story, Gene's great grandfather's brother had been… at least a close friend with James Stoppable's great grandfather's sister. By chance, they said, their names were the same as their kids'. Pure chance. As time went on, they more and more referred to Kim as Ron's wife. It seemed easier that way.

"Exactly. Anyway, this painting was done by my grandmother, Linda Cypher. I don't know when it was done, though probably before she married my grandfather, since she signed it by her maiden name, Etheridge." Gene listened intently. The Etheridge's popped up frequently in this story, since they knew that Kim and Ron had stayed with them when they first arrived.

"Anyway, the interesting thing is this..." Doug proceeded to remove the frame, and carefully placed the painting face down on the table. "It seems that she painted it on an old rent contract, from before this place was turned into a hotel. And I think you'll be interested in who signed the contract."

Jean and Gene trembled as the looked at the paper. The contract was a short agreement between owner and boarder, dated July 15, 1904. It was signed with three names. The owner, John Cypher and the boarders. Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable.

The couple's hearts soared, as they bought the painting at a cost of 500 $ (Gene knew he'd paid too much, but it was his own suggestion, so he had no one to blame). They left the hotel the next day, happier than they had been in months.

They carried with them so much new information that, together with James' success on the science side, it actually seemed as though they could pull it off.

!. Kim and Ron stayed at the Cypher Hotel, then Cypher House, as boarders from July 1904 until February 1910, when a new boarder named Katarina Stoltz moved in, according to another rent contract they managed to find in the attic on their first visit.

2. They had the building plans from 1902, which had not been changed until 1916., which meant that they knew exactly how the room looked an where it was, which meant that they had the exact spatial coordinates of the room Kim and Ron stayed in, crucial to the time machine.

3. They knew Kim and Ron were together… something that made them happy on an entirely different level.

How to calm down James when he learned that Kim and Ron had stayed in the same room, probably the same bed for six years, was, however, an entirely different problem altogether.


	3. I want you home by nine

"Ladies, gentlemen…" Silence struck the control room as James possible started talking. The room was filled with scientist from all over the world, eager to see if their joint collaboration had worked. Only a few, especially chosen, had received the honour to see the event from inside the control room, the rest were elsewhere in the Middleton Space Center.

"I… I stand here today… Looking at this gathering of you men and women of science. I see Professor Everett Hogarth standing next to Dr. Derren Bentsen, despite that they've feuded over the discovery of the bosonic inverter for five years. Yet they stand here today, together. I see Doctors Eve and William Hansen standing next to each other… Which, considering how much time they've spent in their labs working on disproving the Bernt theorem, I think is the most any of us have seen of them in years. I see Dr. Stefan Hökar standing there in his custom-made exo-skeleton… despite his promise not to work on anything else until he solves the grand unification theory." James drew a sharp breath. Ann reached out and grabbed his right hand with her left. He smiled at her, then looked back.

"So many of you have sacrificed your time and effort… and in some cases, perhaps your prestige…For something that you will never be awarded or acknowledged for. And I know that for many of you, this has only been about the challenge, and the chance to do truly ground-breaking work. For me, and my wife… It has always been about getting back our girl and her beau." He smiled at the Stoppables, who smiled right back. James swallowed.

"Whatever your motivations for doing this were... You all hold a special place in my heart and in my prayers for as long as I live, regardless of the outcome. I have never been more humbled than I am right now, in the presence of you men and women of science and your enormous hearts. I know, that this is the defining moment of my life as a scientist. But more than that… it is the defining moment of my life as a father. And I can never thank you enough for your help." His voice cracked as he said the last few sentences. Rufus, standing on the table, wiped away a tear.

"Thank us by getting those two kids back, James." A metallic voice spoke up, that of Dr. Stefan Hökar and his computer-controlled exo-skeleton he'd been trapped in for most of his life due to a debilitating injury. "And, I think I speak for most of us, when I say… if you'd only be a bit more supportive in your peer reviews, that'd go a long way, too." The room laughed at the last comment, including James, Ann, Jean and Gene. James moved towards the computer on the desk. The main part of the computer was, of course, not located there. The massive amounts of data had forced them to outsource it, in secret, to wherever they could hide it, mostly university networks. Next to the computer was the large activation button. James had insisted on such a device. Made it seem.. Classic. By the computer sat the twelve year-old genius Wade Load.

"Wade, are we ready to start?"

"You bet, Doc! We're ready to steal some time!" Wade's exuberance, most likely due to his young age, had for the last few days infected most of the attending.

"Hnh hnh! Tempus fugit!" Rufus spoke, reaching Wade's side.

"Thank you, Wade. Errm… You rock." He moved over to the big red button. Ann, Gene and Jean moved towards him. Ann took his hand again.

"James… Whatever happens… I love you." James nodded.

"I love you too, Ann. Ok Wade, start the sequence." Wade began typing.

"Alright… The date attempted is September 14, 1904, at 0300 hours, place is Cypher House, future Cypher Hotel. Sequence is running, fire when ready, James!"

The date had been chosen carefully. In their research, Jean and Gene had found a diary, describing how the life savers of Kill Devil Hills had rescued the survivors of a doomed ship. The author, one of the survivors, had been shocked to see a red-headed girl take part in the rescue, so they knew at least Kim was there, and most likely Ron too.

The account detailed that the rescuers had started at 0500, and everyone had to be woken up by the watchman on duty, a Glenallen Bender. The account also made it seem as though the rescue was done without any incidents, leaving the parents of the time-travellers to believe that grabbing them back at that point wouldn't result in injuries to the life savers or the rescuers.

The four parents reached out and held one of their hands above the bid red button, James holding his above the others.

"Kim… Ron…" Ann softly said. "For once in your life… Please don't miss your curfew." With that, the pressed the button together.

The machines started working immediately. On Wade's screen, stings of code flew by. On the other side of the room, the trap-chamber began rumbling. The Kerr hole was already active, and the chamber had been built around it. Flashes of light could be seen, even though the concrete walls made it impossible to see what was going on inside. How the light escaped would be the subject of fifteen highly secretive dissertations later. After about thirty seconds, the devices all clicked to a halt.

"Wade… Did we get them?" James asked the boy softly.

"Instruments show… what looks like a room sized box, which is what it would show a room as… I see metals… Lifeforms! Yeah, we got them!" The room exhaled, but none would yet cheer. Rufus ran from Wade's side and scampered over to Gene, who picked him up and put him on his shoulder. The little guy deserved to be there, even if Jim and Tim had to wait outside, in case anything went wrong.

"Ok… Open the chamber door." James' voice trembled. The other parents looked to him for guidance, and followed as he moved towards the large metal door, which was opening slowly.

As they stepped inside, they saw a large wooden box, just as Wade had said the room would look like, since the chamber grabbed parts of the walls.

"Remember, James… Don't flip out because they share a bed, we've talked about this", Ann said. It had taken a good few hours to talk James down from his initial shock, mostly with arguments of economy. James swallowed.

"Don't worry, honey. I'll keep cool on that front."

They walked towards the door. James placed his hands against it, said a silent prayer and pushed the door open.

Inside, it looked very much like they had imagined it. A dinner table with four chairs, a large wardrobe and a smaller dresser, a desk with several books and a small stove next to it. And in the corner, a single bed. An occupied single bed. James shone his flashlight towards it, and a shape began moving.

"Glen, if it's another wreck, I swear I'm gonna speak unkind words to the captain for crashing at this hour." The parents gasped. It was Kim's voice. It sounded a bit groggy, but it was clearly her voice. Their eyes welled up.

"K-Kim? Kimmie-cub?" James managed to speak. The shape in the bed suddenly sat up, and in the light, they could all see her.

"M-Mom? Dad? Oh my god! Ron, wake up!" Kim turned and started to poke at another shape, lying next to her. The mere mention of their son's name sent the tears running down the cheeks of Jean and Gene.

"Hrrmpf. It's your turn, honey." Ron responded.

"No, Ron, really, wake up!" Ron sat up and saw what Kim saw. His jaw dropped.

"We… we're not dreaming are we? Please say we're not dreaming!"

"You're not dreaming, honey. You're back." Jean managed to say thru her tears. Ron and Kim flew out of bed. Thankfully, they were both wearing clothing, Kim a nightshirt that reached her knees and Ron a similar shirt that reached his waist, combined with a pair of pants in the same material . Within a second they reached their parents, who welcomed them with hugs and kisses that lasted for a few minutes. All of them had tears rolling down now, and it took a while before any recognizable words were spoken. When they did, they were words of love and happiness that streamed from the mouths of the assembled. It wasn't until Rufus had stopped hugging Ron's neck that other words were spoken.

"Huh? You taller?" Ron turned to face his pet, long thought lost.

"Of course I am, Rufus, you cutie! We've been gone a long time, things have changed on the Rondo!" Kim laughed at Ron's statement.

"Yeah, Rufus! We're still the same guys, though, don't worry. No big." She reached out and petted the rodent softly.

The parents looked puzzled. They started looking at their kids again. Things had changed, visibly so. Ron had filled out, musclewise, and was, as Rufus had pointed out, an inch or two taller. Kim had also grown a bit, though not as much as Ron. Both of them no longer looked like the teens they'd last seen six months ago, rather, they looked like they were in their early twenties.

Ron and Kim looked at each other, and at their parents.

"Why do you look so surprised? I mean… You knew we wouldn't look the same, right?" Kim asked, confused.

"Kim… What year is it? I mean, what year was it?" James asked slowly.

"1909, of course. Did you just grab us without knowing the year?"

"Really, bad scientist, Mr. Dr. P.! I mean, not to seem ungrateful or anything, you know…" Ron smiled, scratching his neck in embarrassment at his unintentional insult.

"James… you said we we're going to grab them from 1904. What went wrong?" Ann said, as soft as she could.

"I… I don't know honey… But the important thing is that we got them home and-"

"Mommy?" A voice suddenly spoke up. The voice of a little boy. Stunned, the parents watched as a third form emerged from the bed. A blond head of hair popped up from under the covers, and the parents were chocked when they saw the covers thrown off completely, revealing a boy no more then four, who looked astonishingly like Ron, but with green eyes and smaller ears. "Who are they?" The boy asked softly.

Kim and Ron stepped back towards the bed and sat down on either side of the boy.

"Charlie… these are your grandparents. You wanna say hi?"

If it weren't for Gene's surprisingly fast reflexes, James would have collapsed to the floor for the first time since the explosion. Instead, he just collapsed into the fellow grandfather's arms.


	4. Possible's Addendum

**Author's note: Wow, thank you all for your reviews! A special thanks to the captain, of course, and Samurai Crunchbird. And don't worry, this ain't over!**

It took a few moments before James regained his consciousness, but thankfully he woke up all on his own. Ann didn't have to resort to the smelling salts she was carrying with her.

The next hour went by in a blur. The new grandparents were all happy to meet the new addition to their families, and Charlie couldn't have been more charming if he had tried. He was a little shy at first to meet so many new people at once, but he seemed to cope well enough, as long as mommy and daddy were right by him.

Eventually, they left the trap-chamber and went to the room where Jim and Tim were waiting, along with Dr. Director and Monique, who were the only people not directly working on the project that had been told.

Strangely enough, Jim and Tim had reacted with as much glee as their parents when they met Charlie, and they had quickly taken a liking to each other. Dr. Director and Monique had been too shocked to speak the first few minutes, but recouped eventually.

Soon enough, Charlie got tired, and went to sleep after Kim and Ron had tucked him in with a rendition of 'Rockabye Charlie'. He was now sleeping soundly, while his uncles, Aunt Monique and his new best friend Rufus watched over him.

In the control room, as well as all over the Space Center, theories were already being formed to explain what had happened, as well as every other aspect of the event. The work was led by Dr. Stefan Hökar and Dr. Wade Load, who had the distinction of formulating the first new law of physics after finding out what happened. Entitled 'Possible's addendum to Murphy's law', it simply read: "Sometimes you just get lucky".

The Possibles and the Stoppables stepped into a conference room were they sat down around a table. After telling the former teens what had taken place while they were away, James focused his eyes on Kim and Ron.

"Ok, you two. Now, it's your turn. I want to hear everything. And, Ronald… When I say everything… I. Mean. Absolutely. No! Intricate details!" Ron swallowed nervously at James' tone. Kim grabbed his hand. Where to begin?

"Well… I guess we should start in 1903…"

* * *

_December 17, 1903_

"_Ehhh… Kim?" Ron nervously whispered._

"_Yeah?"_

"_Shouldn't… shouldn't we be gone by now?" Kim's eyes darted as she waited to respond to Ron's question._

"_I… I think so…Maybe we're a few minutes off?" She looked around the beach, avoiding Ron's gaze. A few moments passed, but nothing happened. In front of them, they could still see the ship they had told the people of Kitty Hawk they were leaving on. Kim cleared her throat, unsure of what to say._

"_D- Do you think..." She stopped. _

"_What?" Ron was getting nervous too, visibly so._

"_I, eh…" She bit her lip. "Do you think… do you think something's wrong?" Her eyes braved a look at Ron, who was squirming. _

"_Nah, I mean… Nah. Your dad's at the controls, he's got it covered." He took her hand. "I'm sure we'll be whisked away anytime." "Aaaaanytime now", he added after a few moments had passed. They looked at each other for a few moments._

"_So… where do you hope we'll end up? I mean, apart from home?" Kim said, trying to keep up their spirits._

"_Oh, after Andersonville, I think I can take just about anything." His face paled a bit. "I'm just glad I didn't include the Hiroshima bombing on the list." Kim's eyes widened at the statement. Another few minutes went by in silence. Eventually Kim broke the silence._

"_Something's wrong. We should have left by now." She opened her bag and fished out her kimmunicator. No messages, no connection, no anything. She looked at Ron._

"_So… what do we do now? Do we wait here? On the beach?" His tone of voice showed his nervousness._

"_I don't know, Ron. Maybe… maybe they're working on it." She stopped. She remembered the information they had received. If anything went wrong at the Space Center… chances were that they would be stranded. Ron seemed to be thinking the same thing._

"_Kim… we're stuck, aren't we?" He said, dejectedly, and sat down on the sand. Kim followed suit, and sat down in front of him, staring into his eyes._

"_Ron, we can't lose our hope now! Even if something's gone wrong, you know they're gonna do their damndest to get us back!" Ron sighed._

"_I know, KP. It's just… what do we do now? Do we get on that ship? Do we go back to Kitty Hawk?" Kim stared in both directions, thinking of their choices._

"_Well… If we go on that boat, we don't know where we'll end up or what we might change. If we go back to Kitty Hawk… the most notable thing that's ever happened there just happened. We could… wait there, I guess. We could just say that we changed our minds. What do you think? Ron?" Ron raised his head and looked at her._

"_I don't really care, KP. As long as I'm with you, I could go anywhere." She smiled at his words._

"_I know you would, Ron. Same here. Come on, what do you say? The world or Kitty Hawk?" They both pondered the sitch._

"_Kitty Hawk", Ron said eventually. "Your dad told us to stay out of history as best as we can, that still holds true, I think. What do you think?" Kim nodded her head at Ron's words._

"_Yeah, I think that's our best choice for now, too. Let's go." With that, she got up, and, picking up the bundle of clothes started to walk back towards the small village they had just left. Ron quickly followed._

"_Besides, we're not gonna stay long. I'm sure they'll find a way too bring us back", Ron said after a couple of minutes. "I mean… Anything's possible for a Possible, right?" Kim smiled at his words. She leaned in and kissed him on the lips._

"_You got that right, Ron." _

* * *

There was not a dry eye in the room as Kim finished the story. Hearing of how despaired their kids had been that day on the beach in North Carolina had got them all choked up.

"And you did get us back. I always knew you would, dad", Kim said, wiping away her tears.

"So, you just… you waited for six years? My god, you poor kids…" Ann said softly.

"No, it wasn't like that", Ron answered. We only really waited for about six months."

"What happened after six months?" Jean asked. Ron and Kim started blushing a little, and avoided making eye contact. Ron cleared his throat.

"Well… We were at the life saving station. The Etheridges let us live there in exchange for helping out around the house and joining the life savers. And then in June, their youngest daughter Linda finished the first grade. We stayed behind to bake a cake for her… well, I did, anyway, and we got to talking…"

* * *

_June 14, 1904_

_Ron finished smoothing out the last layer of his home-made whipped cream, while slapping away Kim's fingers, as she was trying to swipe some off for a taste._

"_Ah, ah, ah, KP! Not until they come back!"_

"_But it looks sooo good! Come on, just a little!" She went into full puppy dog pout-mode. Ron didn't look at her._

"_I know what you're doing, and it will work, but only if I look at you. And I won't. This cake's for Linda, Kim!" Kim frowned as she let the pout fade away._

"_Fine. But only for Linda's sake. I'm sure that Gregory Cypher will pull her ponytail again, and she's gonna need that cake to make her happy. But next time, Ron…" Ron smiled at hearing her unfinished threat. Kim sat down on the chair across from Ron._

"_Remember when we finished first grade?" She asked. Ron chuckled._

"_How could I not? My pants fell off in front of everyone, and you stood in front of me to hide it. Then when everyone started laughing, you yelled at them to stop. And they did."_

"_Well, couldn't let them do that, now could I?" Ron looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, come on! If I had to shout 'Stop laughing at Ron' every time you did something goofy, I'd have to say it more often than 'No big'! I mean… 'No big', Ron! It's my catch phrase!"_

"_Guess you're right. But it did feel good to have your support, KP. Always has." He looked at her and smiled._

"_No big, Ron. Man… can you believe how long ago that was?"_

"_Long ago… Far ahead… Still seems like an eternity." His face showed the nostalgic feelings that were bubbling in him._

"_Hey, who knows", Kim said, as she stood up and started to pick up all the utensils and put them in the wooden trough they used for washing the dishes. "If we live healthy lives, we might get to be there, and get yelled at by me…" The words had just come out, without her even thinking about them. She tried to focus on doing the dishes but the words hung in the air. Ron didn't speak. Her eyes welled up with tears as the thought really entered into her head. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, as she ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs to the attic, which was now used as Ron's room. _

_She threw herself on to the bed and cried. After a few moments, Ron came in through the door, sat down by her side and stroked her hair softly._

"_We're not gonna get home, are we?" She said in between sobs. She looked up and saw Ron, tears falling down his cheeks as well._

"_I… I don't know, Kim. It's been six months; I don't know how long it would take them to get us back." Kim sat up, and pulled Ron in for a hug, which lasted a few minutes while they finished crying. After a while Kim spoke up._

"_I just miss them so much. Our parents… The tweebs…"_

"_Rufus… Wade…" Ron filled in._

"_Monique…"_

"_Felix…"_

"_Nana…"_

"_Ned…"_

"_Bonnie…"_

"_Bonnie?"__Ron jerked his head back to look at Kim. Kim chuckled._

"_Yeah, even Bonnie. Though she's not as high on the list as… oh, I don't know… The lunch lady?" Kim smiled a weak smile, Ron joined in. They sat for a few minutes in silence before Kim spoke again._

"_Can't believe we're not gonna graduate high school. Or go to college." Ron looked at her, frowning._

"_Hey, we could… we could still go to college, Kim." Kim sighed at Ron's words._

"_No, Ron, we can't. We have no money, no record of education… And even if we did…We know too much about the future. What happens if we accidentally start talking about DNA in a biology class?" Ron frowned._

"_At least we might some day get a car. My grandpa had an old Ford Model T that he used to work on… Maybe get one of those someday…" Kim smiled at her boyfriend for trying to lift her spirits, but the subject was still too heavy._

"_Ah, who am I kidding?" Ron threw up his hands. "What would we do with a car here? It's not like we can go to a drive-thru or something. I mean, there's not even a-" And there it was, Kim thought as she waited for Ron to complete the thought. Oddly, he didn't explode. Instead, he just took a slow long breath._

"_Guess I'll just have to make my own nacos", he said, dejected._

_Half an hour went by, as they sat there, talking about things they missed and would never again see. Finally, they stopped, and just sat next to each other, holding hands. Kim was thrown out of her thoughts when she realized Ron was crying again. She pulled him in for a hug, and kissed him softly on the cheek._

"_If… Damnit, it's all my-" He began, but Kim interrupted him._

"_NO, Ron. Don't say it. Don't say it. Something went wrong, something you couldn't have done. You think you could have thrown off that big a computer with a memory chip? No way!"_

"_But if it weren't for me wanting to go the easy way on that assignment, they never would have started up the machine and-"_

"_Don't rewrite history any more than we've already done, Ron. I wanted to see it too. And if we hadn't been there… Maybe it would have been my dad who got sucked in." Ron looked at her. He had never thought about that. "And I love my dad and all, but do you think he would've survived Titanic? Or Andersonville?" Ron frowned. _

"_I almost didn't either. If it hadn't been for you…" Kim leaned in and kissed him on the lips._

"_I know. Just like you've saved me many times. That's what we do." She continued to kiss him. "God knows I couldn't have done this without you. I love you so much, Ron. If you hadn't been here, I'd have given up by now, just like when we were trapped in the Bueno Nacho HQ." Ron started responding to her kisses, and started leaning in to be more active in them._

"_I love you too, Kim… I… I love your drive… your optimism…"_

"_I love your sense of humour… your courage…" Kim responded, still continuing kissing her boyfriend._

"_I love your hair… your eyes…"_

"_Your ears… Your freckles…"_

"_Your smile…"_

"_Your laughter…"_

"_That you never give up…"_

"_That you never let me…"_

_Without fully realizing it, while they were kissing and talking, Kim had moved from her place, and now sat straddling Ron's lap. They broke off their kissing and just stared into each other's eyes. A few moments passed, before Kim grabbed Ron's cotton sweater and pulled it over his head. As he emerged bare-chested, she started unbuttoning her blouse, while Ron leaned back on the bed._

_Their moment in time didn't end until two hours later, when Ron heard the Etheridges walk through the door downstairs. He quickly put on his clothes, but as he heard someone walking up the stairs, he had to 23 skidoo out the window. He walked in the front door two minutes later with a limp, claiming he had been at the outhouse. Mrs. Etheridge gave Kim a minor scolding for sleeping in a boy's room, but smiled as she left the room._

* * *

"…And when we had talked about what we missed, we… err… sort of decided not wait anymore. We never stopped hoping, we just…" Ron stumbled a bit on his words, and regretted choosing some of them.

"We just realized that we couldn't keep our lives on hold waiting for something that may never happen", Kim finished. They glanced at each other, and had to concentrate hard not to blush any more than they already did.

Their parents nodded slowly. They could sense that there was something the kids weren't telling them, but for now, they let it slide.

James, however, was still staring grimly at them.

"That may be all well and good, Ronald… But please… what I really want to know is…" Oh god, Kim and Ron thought as they waited for him to continue, he figured it out.

"Exactly what were you thinking when you moved in together with Kim into a one room apartment that only had one bed?"


	5. Issues of Propriety

_July 14, 1904_

"_Well, here is the room. Don't worry; we'll have it cleaned up tonight, before you move in." John Cypher gestured towards the bed. "There's your bed, Kim. We have an extra mattress in the attic for you, Ron; Mrs. Cypher is washing it as we speak. We'll just place in on the opposite side of the room. We also have a divider… somewhere…that we can put up in that corner there, so you can put on your clothes and whatnot." _

_Kim blushed a little. __She knew the Cyphers wouldn't let her and Ron sleep in the same bed, but they were really pulling out all stops to make sure propriety was upheld, as best as they could. If they knew what Kim and Ron were doing in private moments… She didn't know if they actually ever tarred and feathered people anywhere, certainly not in North Carolina, but they might just pick up the habit. _

_Ron, on his part, looked very nervous at hearing John's words. He was probably thinking the same thing. But since they would most likely tar and feather him, he would not see the humour in it._

"_We haven't discussed food yet, though; I'm guessing you're going to get your food from the Inn most days?" The Cypher House served its boarders food if they so wished, but John was right, that was an option Ron and Kim didn't need, even though Martha Cypher was an excellent cook. Kim glanced at Ron, who didn't respond. Strange, food was usually Ron's topic, no matter the sitch, Kim thought._

"_Uhh, yeah, we'll be eating there… Except on days off, maybe, but we won't need it everyday." Which was good for their money sitch, she added in her head. "But we are gonna take the breakfast option. Ron gets a little cranky if he goes without food in the morning." John chuckled._

"_Oh, I have heard the stories from Mrs. Etheridge alright. Now, should we sign the paper now or-" John was interrupted when his son Gregory came running in._

"_Father! Maggie's-" He started to say._

"_Not now, Gregory, the adults are talking."_

"_But Maggie's gone into labor! Mom wants you out there now!" John sighed._

"_Oh, alright. I'll be right down." He turned to back to Kim as Gregory ran back out. "I guess we can sign the papers tomorrow. Apparently there are pressing duties to attend to."_

"_Oh, of course, of course, go!" Kim responded. "We'll let ourselves out. And give our best to Maggie!" John stopped and pondered._

"_Well, I thank you for your concern, but I'm not sure she would understand it. You know, being a cow, and all." He chuckled as he left, leaving Kim and Ron alone in what would be their new home. Kim sauntered over to the bed and sat down on it. It was a stiff bed, but she'd slept in worse. She gazed over at Ron, who was looking around._

"_You know, " he said slowly "all things considered… I wish I knew more about mould so I could spot it better. I'm not sure if there is any in here, and dad always said I should look for that first when I get a new apartment." Kim looked around. The place was well kept enough. It was a little dusty, and, as John had said, it needed tidying up, but she saw no mould anywhere._

"_I don't see any… Anyway. You think you're ever gonna need that mattress?" She smiled an impish smile at him._

"_Uhh… yeah… I mean… if any of them walk in on us… " He shivered at the thought. Kim shrugged._

"_We'll talk about it later. Anyway, we should be headed back to the Inn, Mrs. Norris'll be cross if we're late for the lunch rush." She stood up and walked towards the door. Ron didn't move. As she passed, he took her hand._

"_Kim…" _

* * *

"Hold on a second," Gene interrupted. "What's this Inn you're talking about?"

Kim was shook out of her memories of that day.

"Uhh… Oh yeah. Ron and I got jobs at the Lamplighter Inn, this little restaurant in town. Mrs. Norris owned it at the time, but she couldn't take care of it alone since there were so many tourists visiting. You know, with the first flight thing and all. Anyway, Ron became the cook, and I the waitress, and Mrs. Norris just took care of the bookkeeping and that stuff."

James groaned inwardly. Hearing about the mattress had made him calm down quite a bit, but now… He loved his daughter, and would do so no matter what. Still, hearing that Kim had ended up a teen mom, without an education, working as a waitress… He felt as if he had failed her on so many levels. His thoughts were interrupted when Ann spoke.

"Kim, Ron… You haven't mentioned it yet, but… You have a son… you live together.. Are… Have you… Are you married?" The room fell silent. The eyes of the parents darted around, trying to gauge the reactions of Kim, Ron and the other parents. Kim and Ron looked at each other, and smile. Kim chuckled a bit before replying.

"Mom… As you said, we have a little boy, we live together, sleep in the same bed, in North Carolina at the beginning of the century. Of course we're married!"

For a few minutes, they story of Kim's and Ron's lives were interrupted, when the parents cheered and got up and hugged their kids. All were happy to hear this piece of… news was maybe the wrong word, since it had been historical fact since 1904. They sat back after a few minutes, all smiling brightly. James had now lost most of his somewhat sour mood, and it did a lot to ease the situation. Ron spoke up.

"We… we thought you knew? I mean, we signed papers and everything?"

"The records from that time were destroyed in a fire in 1952, so we really didn't know anything about what you've done. Finding you was… a bit of a fluke, really", Jean said, thinking of all the digging they had done in archives and records of those days. Ann couldn't contain her excitement anymore, and interrupted her new relative.

"So, how did it happen? Tell us everything!" Kim and Ron glanced at each other. Kim gestured at Ron, who spoke up.

"Well… it sort of started the day before…"

* * *

_July 13, 1904_

"_Ron, do you have a minute to sit down and talk to us?" Mr. Etheridge said as Ron brought out the food. Today was a little hectic. Kim was dragooned into help Mrs. Etheridge with a couple of chores that had to be done before Ron and Kim moved out. Mrs. Norris had been ok with it, however, as long as Ron could deal with everything on his own. Thus far, everything was ok; the only patrons were the brave men of the live saving station, who sat at their usual table._

"_Uhh... Sure thing, Mr. E." Ron sat down on an unoccupied seat, next to Bob Daniels. The other guys looked at him conspicuously until Mr. E spoke up again._

"_Ron… John Cypher came and spoke to me and Mrs. E. yesterday. Said that you and Kim were gonna take a look at that room he's got vacant?" Ron nodded slowly. "Now, I now you and the girl were going to move out sooner or later, and we've got no problem with that. But… when he said it was a one room apartment… we got a little curious, and the lads and I were wondering… When are you going to marry that girl and make an honest woman out of her?" Ron's eyes widened. He coughed nervously and was going to start stammering some kind of response, when Mr. E continued. "We know that you're a good lad, Ron, and that Kim is a good girl, and that you wouldn't… do anything improper." Ron blushed, and hoped that they thought it was the subject matter that embarrassed him, rather than the fact they'd already done improper things. "But still, Ron. People are gonna start talking if there's not a ring on her finger soon. And trust me, Ron. We may not be her parents, but we won't hesitate to pick up the old shotgun if you mess up." The men looked sternly at Ron, who swallowed audibly, before calming down and sighing._

"_Of course I plan to ask Kim to marry me, it's just…" He sighed again. "I've been friends with her for a long time and… I know exactly how she would've wanted her wedding to be like, from what flowers to how the china would look like. But even then, I knew that what mattered most to her was that all of her friends and family would be there. And since they can't be… I wanted her to have all of the other stuff. The dress, the china, the flowers… But as it is right now… I can't even afford to buy the rings." Mr. E. nodded._

"_Well, boy, your heart's in the right place. But you know… in the end, I'd bet that what really matters most to her is that the right person will be waiting for her by the altar. And I think that she already knows who that person is." The other men around the table smiled. Mr. E. continued. "But we figured as much, about the money, I mean. So we got together and had the blacksmith in Duck have these done." He put his hands in his pockets and fished out two rings. Ron gasped._

"_You, you guys, I… I can't accept this! This is too much!" Mr. E. held up his hand._

"_There not gold, it's just gold-painted copper. But I think the lady won't mind as long as it's you who places that ring on her finger. Do you?" Ron smiled brightly at his friends and colleagues. _

* * *

_ July 14, 1904_

"_Kim…"_

"_What? You spotted some mould?" Ron chuckled at her question._

"_No, no, it's… There's something I have to ask you." Kim looked at him, and gestured at him to go on. Ron took a breath and gathered his thoughts._

"_This… is gonna be a great place to live, Kim. But not because this table is sturdy or because that dresser is gonna hold all my socks. It's gonna be great because I'm gonna live here with you." She smiled at him. "I… Like I've said before, I could go anywhere as long as I'm with you. Because, well, because I love you. And, for some reason… you love me."_

"_Of course I do, Ron. And I have many, many reasons, but none better than that I just do." Ron smiled, looking somewhat more at ease after hearing Kim's words._

"_Thanks, KP. Anyway… I've been thinking about how to say this since… well, since the junior prom, really. But I never knew how to… It seems nothing I could say is… just right… So I'm just gonna ask you, ok?" Kim nodded. Her heart was beating faster with every word Ron spoke, and it was pounding so hard it felt as if it took up the entire space from her chest up to her ears when he kneeled down on the floor in front of her._

"_Kimberly Ann Possible… Will you marry me?" He pulled out the smaller ring from his pocket and held it up as he spoke the last words. Tears fell from Kim's eyes as she kneeled down and pulled him in for the greatest kiss of their life together so far._

"_Yes, Ron, Yes! Of course I will!" Ron's eyes welled up as he pulled her back in for the greatest kiss of their life together so far. _

* * *

The parents smiled as Kim and Ron finished their story. Kim and Ron had barely been able to get out the last part as they got choked up.

"So… why aren't you wearing the rings? And what was your wedding day like?" Jean spoke first, eager to find out.

"Well, the copper tends to leave these ugly green lines on our fingers, so we usually only wear them out in public. And the wedding day… well..." Kim said, as she launched into telling them of their day.

It had been a beautiful sunny day. The congregation had filled the church to the brim. Kim and Ron had become quite popular during the last few months.

Ron's mother looked a little unsure as Ron described the church, so Ron had to admit, not so little ashamed, that he had… downplayed his Judaism during their time in Kitty Hawk. It wasn't that he felt ashamed about being Jewish, it was just… It was a different time for Jews in those days, and though he had never heard any of his friends speak ill of his people, he wasn't at all sure they would react too well if they found out. Then again, Kim had to get married in a Lutheran church, despite being Catholic, for much the same reasons.

Ron had worn a suit, borrowed from Tom Daniels, who was closest to his size. It didn't fit that good, but it was better than wearing his everyday clothes, Ron decided.

Kim, however, had worn a nice, white dress, that even included a train. They had to save to be able to buy it, but Ron had insisted on getting at least that right. The people of Kitty Hawk had understood and accepted his wishes, since it was the major reason for them waiting longer than a month.

She looked so beautiful, Ron described, as she walked to the altar, escorted by Mr. Etheridge. Like an angel with red hair and green eyes… Kim, he explained, not Mr. Etheridge.

Ron had Tom Daniels as his best man, and Kim had John Cypher's daughter Jane as her maid of honor, who she had gotten close to while staying at Cypher House. Linda Etheridge had served as the flower girl. She had insisted.

They had spoken their vows, opting not to write their own, since would have taken up too much time of the ceremony to sum up how they felt about each other. The tears came, of course, but not until they had both said their 'I do's, a feat they were even today unsure of how they pulled off. And then the priest had proclaimed them Mr. and Mrs. Ron Stoppable, and they had kissed as the crowd roared with delight.

Jean and Ann smiled broadly as they heard the story. Even James had problems holding back the tears by now. Gene had already given up that fight.

"Oh, you two… that sounded like a fantastic wedding day", Ann said, wiping her eyes. Kim smiled at the parents, and then at Ron, stroking the back of his hand.

"It was… Though the wedding night could have been better."

Ron's eyes widened, as did the eyes of all those in the room. James started coughing profusely, and Gene started slapping him on his back, thinking he had choked on something.

"No! No, no, no, no, no, I didn't mean it like that! Ron you were-" She stopped as she looked at the parents. "Ehmm…. What I meant was… We went to sleep and all, but in the middle of the night, that damned Glen Bender came rushing in! He'd forgotten that we got married the same day, so he just came rushing in, shouting that there was a wreck we had to take care of. Though I'll never forget his face when he saw us in bed together. Man, was he ever shocked." Ron chuckled at the memory. It had been a funny sight. The parents, however, squirmed in their seats.

"Uhhh… Kim…" James began, regaining his breath. "What date did you get married on?"

"September 13, 1904" Ron answered automatically. "Two months after we got engaged."

James couldn't stop chuckling as he told them that the date they had planned to bring Kim and Ron back from… was September 14, 1904, and that if hadn't been Glen Bender who had rushed in that night, it would have been them, at 3 a.m. Kim's and Ron's faces whitened at the thought. They had still been awake at 3 a.m., but they weren't going to tell their parents that.

After the laughter at the thought of how Kim and Ron would have reacted had the time machine worked as intended died down, Gene fixed his eyes on the married couple again.

"So... I guess we come to the really interesting story. Tell us about Charlie."


	6. Not talking about hummus

**Author's note: Hummus is good. Especially in a småland roll. Mmmm…. Småland roll.**

Kim smiled at the question. She loved talking about her son, of course, but…

"I don't…. I don't know where to start, really… I mean… how do you sum up a person… not to mention one of the two best things in your life? Would you have been able to sum up me and Ron when we were four to your parents, if they'd never met us before?"

The parents pondered Kim's question. That would be seriously hard to do, yes…

"Well, we will get to know him, but…come on… What's he like?" Jean said what was on all their minds. Ron looked at Kim who gestured at him to try.

"Well… He's… he loves to hear stories. Can't get enough of them. And he loves to read. He learned to read a few months ago, just before he turned four… Now he sits down with whatever book or pamphlet he can get his hands on and tries to make sense out of it. We had to pry _The Scarlet Letter_ out of his hands before he got too far into it… And that book on phrenology he found somewhere…" Kim chuckled at remembering how they had tried to explain why he couldn't read those two books. "He asks us questions about everything he reads, so… explaining phrenology gave me a headache, that's for sure." James smiled.

"You were like that too in that age, Kim. Everything you got your hands on, you read. But with you, it was _Lady Chatterley's Lover_ that made us shuffle away some books to the attic." Kim blushed. Yeah, she remembered getting a few pages into that…

"Anyway… If he got that that from me, he got his cooking skills from Ron, thank god." The parents frowned.

"Ron… you're not letting him near the stove, are you?" Ann asked. She'd seen way to many accidents that started somewhere in the kitchen.

"No, no, of course not. But sometimes he tells me what he thinks would go well together. He's… got some game, but he's not up to daddy's level yet." Kim smirked.

"Come on, Ron. He invented the braco when he was three. He beat you by 12 years in that department!" The parents looked at them inquisitively.

"The braco", Kim explained, "is a taco with the beef replaced with a bratwurst. Tastes quite good, I might add." Ron smiled the smile of a proud dad, but recomposed himself.

"Yeah, well, ok he did that, but mostly he's swing and miss. Do I have to remind mommy of the Cajun-flavoured-"

"Don't. Even. Say it, Ron." Kim interrupted. It was, however, too late.

"Ice cream. See?" He smirked, a semblance of honour restored.

"Can't believe you even mixed up that batch in the first place, you knew it was a bad idea!"

"Yeah, but I remembered you saying something about 'trial and error', so I decided, what the hey?" He started chuckling, and after a while, Kim joined in. The parents couldn't help but laughing too, at the thought of their grandson's experiments.

"I had that taste stuck in my mouth for three days! I even pondered taking a swig of John's scotch to get it out!" Kim howled. A few more minutes were spent on describing Charlie's adventures in cooking, ending in a promise to show them Charlie's cookbook, where Ron had detailed every attempt and the reception. Eventually, Ann started the conversation up again.

"So, when was he born? And how did the birth go?" Kim was about to respond, when there was a knock on the door, and Wade popped his head in.

"Hey, Wade, what's the sitch?" James asked his assistant.

"Uh, well, just to give you an update, we think we've narrowed down what the problem was with the five year shift thing… At least we've got what system was malfunctioning." James back straightened up.

"Really? What's the consensus?" Wade shrugged.

"Well, no consensus yet, we have two theories. Either our calculations defining a second were off by about five per cent every time, or it started with a smaller error that grew exponentially. We're leaning towards the second one right now, since most of us think Dr. Bentsen wouldn't have made such a big mistake. Well, everyone who doesn't have a personal vendetta against him at least." James nodded his head. Truthfully, the error they had made didn't bother him as much as it did at first. Wade remained standing by the door.

"Sooo…. What'chu talkin' 'bout?" He said, to break the ice. Ron smiled at him.

"Take a seat, Wade! We're about to get into the birds and the bees, and I think you should take your time to sit down and-" The door slammed, leaving a highly embarrassed Wade on the other side, shuddering. Give me theoretical debate about time travel and computations any day of the week, rather than… birds and bees, he thought as he walked back to the control room. In the conference room, Ron looked confused.

"Well, I knew he was gonna be embarrassed, but that was a bit harsh, don't you think?" He gazed over at Kim, who frowned.

"Oh, and you we're so much more mature when I told you?"

* * *

_January 15, 1905_

_Kim drew a sharp breath. This was gonna be fine. Ron was… sure to panic at some point, but it was gonna be fine anyway. He was gonna freak, but she just had to ride that wave of freaky until it calmed down – it would be fine. She took a breath, and stepped in the kitchen. Ron was standing by the stove, stirring something in a bowl. Ok… here we go, she thought._

"_Hey Ron… I, uhm… I wanted to talk to you about something…" Another sharp breath. Ron turned around and looked at her, frustrated._

"_Well, as long as it doesn't have to do with hummus, I'm all ears."_

"_Well, see… Hummus?" Kim frowned._

"_Ok, now I'm not listening any more", Ron said, turning back to the bowl. Kim rolled her eyes._

"_That was a question, Ron. What are you doing making hummus?" Ron turned back to her._

"_Apparently, the peas I ordered weren't peas, but chick peas. And I don't know what to do with them besides making hummus. And, now I'm talking about hummus anyway." He sighed. "What was it you wanted, my badical wife?" He smiled when asking, still not used to calling Kim that. He hoped he never would._

"_Well… You know I've been feeling a bit… nauseous?" _

"_Yeah… Wish I could blame that on the hum- No, I'm done with that!" Ron joked, but underneath, he was getting nervous. If Kim had caught some germ…Penicillin wouldn't even be discovered until… some time in the future. Kim smiled at Ron's apparent obsession._

"_No, it's a…. It's not some food thing… I talked to Mrs. E., who said I should talk to Dr. Robertson, and… I'm not sick" Ron relaxed a bit. "He… He thinks that… I'm pregnant."_

_Ron stared at her. She stared right back, awaiting his reaction. He blinked his eyes rapidly. Ok, here comes the freak-out, Kim thought. Ron coughed a bit._

"_Ah." He said, and paused. "Ah…. Ah. " Kim wondered if she needed to start speaking again._

"_Pregnant?" Ron asked. Kim nodded. She couldn't help smiling as she did. Ron nodded with her. "As in…baby?" Kim shrugged._

"_Or babies." Wrong thing to say, she realized as Ron's eyes widened. He started to pace._

"_You're…. you're gonna, we're gonna…. We're gonna have a… baby?"_

"_Yes, Ron. A baby." She decided to skip on discussing her mother's family trait of having twins. Not a good idea right now. Ron smiled._

"_Right. A baby… Ok… I'm… I'm gonna boil some water, I think."_

"_For the hummus?" Kim wasn't following this part of Ron's freak-out as he picked up a pot and headed towards the door to get some water from the pump._

"_No talkie hummus, KP. Just… you know… Boiling water and… is it towels or just cloths? Because I can do towels, but cloths, I'm unsure of." Ok, this kind of freak-out. The severely premature freak-out. Kim grabbed Ron's arm before he walked out._

"_Ron… do I look like a nine months pregnant woman to you?" Ron blinked a few times._

"_No, of course not, honey, you're as beautiful as they day I married you!" Kim rolled her eyes, and let the obvious sink in. Of course, this being Ron, it took a few more moments than normal. Eventually, Ron's mind caught up._

"_Ah." Kim nodded slowly. "Kinda… Kinda freaked there, didn't I?" Kim nodded again._

"_Yeah, you did. But it's ok." A smile crept up further and further on Ron's face._

"_We're really gonna have a baby?" Kim matched his smile, and nodded. "Well… Booyah!" He said, and pulled his wife in for a big kiss, that made him forget he was in a kitchen, in 1905. He even forgot all about hummus, and eventually, nacos. _

* * *

The conference room was filled with laughter as Kim finished her story. Even Ron had let up after a while, and joined in the mirth. Jean had almost wiped away her tears, when James spoke. 

"Well, Ron… I can only speak for myself and Slim… But you really are a Possible, with a reaction like that!" Ann howled in laughter, hearing her husband's words. Oh yeah, when she had told him that they were gonna have a baby, his reaction had been somewhat similar.

"Oh, you're a Stoppable, too, I assure you that!" Gene replied. "I thought Jean was talking literally when she said she had a bun in the oven. I thought she was baking!"

A few more minutes were spent as the three families laughed and told their own stories of their pregnancies.

"So, anyway… " Kim said, calming the room down. "Charlie was born on August 19th, 1905. I was helping out Mrs. Cypher with the wash when my water broke. And then Ron closed the restaurant for the day and came over to help out. They we're all really surprised that he wanted to be in the room. But I was ok with it."

* * *

_August 19__th__ 1905_

_Kim grabbed Ron's collar and pulled him in. His entire field of vision was filled with her pale, sweating, angry face. For some reason, she reminded him of Shego right now, but he knew better than to ever say that. Ever._

"_Stoppable! You are NEVER! EVER! Touching me again! YOU HEAR ME?" _

* * *

Actually, let's just skip that part", Kim said, blushing a bit at how she had behaved. "Let's just say that next time, I'm getting the epidural." Ann and Jean chuckled. They knew that feeling all too well.

* * *

_August 19__th__ 1905_

"_Alright… Here you go. A beautiful baby boy." Mrs. Brennan, the village midwife, handed Kim the bundle containing her first child. The pain Kim had felt had stopped abruptly, although now she felt as physically spent as she had ever done in her life. She carefully took the bundle, and held it almost as if by instinct, supporting the head. She could only stare at it, and marvel at this boy. Ron, who was kneeling by the side of the bed, couldn't tear himself away from looking either, especially when the little tyke opened his eyes. Ron's heart almost stopped when he saw them._

"_He…. He's got your eyes, Kim. He's got your eyes." Tears rolled down his cheeks. Kim looked at her husband and smiled._

"_Yeah… But he's got your nose."_

"_No… I've got his nose", Ron said, as he reached in, and softly touched the boy's nose, using his index finger and his middle finger. He pulled away his hands slowly. "Got your nose." He whispered, faking a tiny nose with his thumb. Kim chuckled. Ron leant in and after wiping away her tears, which had fallen partly due to the pain and partly due to the moment, he kissed her softly._

"_So, what do we call him?" He asked. He himself hadn't managed to think of any names, since he was sure that it was going to be a girl. Except one name. "I… I was thinking James." Kim smiled at him. She knew what he was thinking about._

"_I would like that. But only as a middle name." Ron looked curious at her. "I don't want Tim to feel bad."_

"_Tim? Your brother Tim?"_

"_Yeah… I mean, they'd probably figure out that he would be named after dad, but… Jim would lord it over him every time they got in a fight that we named our baby James." Ron smiled. _

"_Ok… any suggestions then? I guess Timothy is out because of the same reason?" Kim nodded._

"_How about Gene? After your dad?" She asked. Ron shook his head._

"_Dad made me promise not to. He's a bit nervous about that naming a baby after someone living thing." Kim looked confused. Ron leaned in and whispered. "Jewish thing." Kim nodded in understanding. After a few seconds of staring at they boy some more, she looked back at Ron._

"_I have another suggestion, than. How about Charles?" Ron's eyes widened. Charles James Stoppable. Charles Stoppable. Charlie Stoppable. He smiled._

"_That… sounds good actually. Where'd that come from?"_

"_Officer Lightoller. His name was Charles", Kim answered. She smiled, remembering their time aboard the Titanic. Second Officer Lightoller was an especially good memory. Ron nodded. Kim looked back at the newly named boy. "Hey Charles. Hey Charlie. You feel a little tired? A little hungry?" _

_Charlie had been quiet for most of there conversation, but now, he started wailing again._

"_Is… is that a good sign or a bad?" Kim asked Mrs. Brennan, who was just done replacing the used cloths and the likes with new ones._

"_Oh, he's gonna yell no matter what, better get used to it." She pointed at Ron. "Now you, out you go! I let you be here despite my experience with men and births, but it's high time you get out before the next part."_

"_Next part? What next part?" Ron asked, frowning._

"_The afterbirth", Mrs. Brennan said, grinning. Ron paled._

"_You go, Ron. Tell the guys downstairs. And only ONE drink of John's scotch, and only ONE of Bill's cigars, do you hear me?" Ron nodded. He kissed her forehead, then her mouth, and then leaned over and kissed little Charlie's forehead._

"_Be right back… son." He said, as he walked out of their apartment. A few seconds later, the roar 'IT'S A BOY!' could be heard echoing through Cypher House, followed by cheers. Kim smiled, and kissed her baby's head. _


	7. Stitches in time

**Author's note: I got a few comments on my last chapter regarding some stuff, so I revised it a little. Wow, that was really informative, wasn't it?**

The next hour flew by, as Kim and Ron told their parents about their adventures in raising Charlie. It had been quite different for the two of them, compared to how they themselves were raised. Not so much because of what values and morals they had tried to impart on their son – be nice to people, respect your elders, etc, etc – but more on the material side of things. Ron and Kim had to make most of Charlie's toys by hand, including some of his furniture. Kim had to sew many of his clothes herself, apart from a couple of items that they received as gifts. Disposable diapers were a thing of the future. Baby monitors were several generations and several technical leaps off.

Still, they had managed to survive, somehow, though they had probably lost a lot more sleep in those four years than their parents did, all the while retaining their jobs at the Lamplighter Inn.

That was another story. In 1907, Mrs. Norris had a minor stroke, at least, as far as Kim suspected, and had been forced to move to relatives in Charlotte. While her family still held ownership of the Inn, they let Kim and Ron rent it and keep the restaurant going. They renamed it The Aviator, and Ron let loose with his culinary inventions. Soon, not only the site of the first flight was the reason why people visited Kitty Hawk, but also to get a chance to eat at The Aviator.

Gene scratched his head. Ron's success as a chef reminded him of the trail they followed to New York, the review of a chef called Ron Sinkable, which they had suspected had been Ron.

"So…. You never thought about leaving Kitty Hawk?" he asked slowly. Kim and Ron looked at each other. During the entire conversation they and the parents had had in the conference room, they had looked at each other with warm and loving looks. This time, there was something… apprehensive about the look. Like they way Gene and Jean looked at each other sometimes when the subject of a second child came up. They remained silent for a while, until they softly reached for the other's hand. The rest of the parents caught up with what Gene was seeing. There had been debate about this subject.

"We've… We have had thoughts… like that, yes. Ever since the start", Ron said.

* * *

_December 24__th__, 1903_

"_I'm just saying we should think about it, KP. Nothing wrong with just thinking, right?" Ron looked pleadingly at his girlfriend as they stood in the kitchen of the life saving station. Thankfully, everyone had left to attend midnight mass in town; otherwise they wouldn't have dared discuss this in the house. Kim frowned._

"_No, there's nothing wrong with thinking, Ron, it's just…For the time being, I think we're better off here in Kitty Hawk."_

"_Yeah, I know, history and all that, but… seriously, it's the chance of a lifetime! Someone else's lifetime at that! It's so badical I can't even begin to describe it!" Ron was giddy at the prospect that had been offered them._

"_Ron… Orville and Wilbur are headed for the history books. Everything they do from now on will be documented and preserved! The Flyer will be on display at the Smithsonian, for goodness sake! Dad told us to stay out of history, not get thrown into it!" Ron grinned at Kim's words; they were true, but still…_

"_Sure, they're gonna get noticed, but… what would we change? Are we gonna come up with some new airplane design? Hardly likely, at least in my case. But we wouldn't get near anything… Important." His eyes flashed with inspiration. "You know… you could become the first female pilot ever if we go with them to Dayton." That caught Kim's attention. She pondered for a moment._

"_And that would keep us out of the history books how, exactly? Every book of important women in history is gonna have my photo and the caption: Kim Possible: Aviatrix! God, that sounds like I'm a super villain or something." _

"_But that would be so cool! You know… if it didn't accidentally destroyed history. But come on, it wouldn't!"_

"_We don't know what's gonna destroy history, Ron. That's why we couldn't save the Titanic, even if we could have gotten them to believe us!" Kim took his hand and rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand softly. "I know it would be cool to go with them to Ohio. And I know that we probably could stay out of history even there. But dad and the others are gonna look for us here, not in Dayton. And if we go… what if something better comes along? I don't know what it would be, but…" She sighed. "If we start down this road… We might end up really changing things. Whether we want to or not. Kitty Hawk is gonna be an uneventful place, for a long time. It's just safer if we stay." _

_Ron looked at his best friend and girlfriend. She was right, and he knew it. He nodded at her comments._

"_You're right, I know. But they'd better find us soon, or I'm building you a plane anyway!" He smiled that disarming smile, and Kim giggled._

"_Like you could build anything more complicated than a LEGO-set, Ron!" She burst out laughing as Ron faked a wounded look. Suddenly, the laughter was interrupted by the sound of the bells from the church, ringing in the start of the mass. Kim looked at Ron, and leaned in and kissed him deeply._

"_Merry Christmas, Ron. I hope you can survive without Snowman Hank this year", she said, smiling. Ron frowned._

"_Well… Give me another one of those and I think I can manage." He smiled as Kim pulled him into another kiss. _

* * *

James looked at the couple on the other side of the table. Even though he'd heard their story, he wasn't sure that they told him the entire story. Maybe that was all that happened then, but… An argument like that wouldn't still haunt them today, he thought.

"Well… You were probably both right", he said. "You probably wouldn't have changed history that much if you went with the Wright brothers, but… In all honesty, we don't fully know how this thing with changing history works. You being there in the first place changed things, but we're still here, so… The only thing which we know could create a paradox or worse would be if you somehow had affected your own existence, like if you had caused your grandfather's death or something." Kim looked at her father intently.

"So… you don't know what we changed yet?" She asked. James shrugged, and looked over at the Stoppables, who knew more about the tracks Kim and Ron had made. Jean caught his glance and spoke up.

"Well… we didn't find much. Only a couple of notices, where it could have been you… Except for the rent contract from the Cypher House, that was the only real trail we found. Perhaps that means that it wasn't really you that did all those things?" She looked confused, and glanced at Gene, who shrugged, and James, who was deep in thought. Could it be that they didn't find any real traces of them because they were picked out of the time stream when they were? His mind boggled. This would be another thing to discuss with the other scientists later. His thoughts were interrupted by Ron's voice.

"Well, what did you find that could have been us then?" He looked at his father.

"Well… the best trail we had was a chef in New York in the thirties called Ron Sinkable, but that could have been someone else, I guess… Otherwise it was just… people with your description popping up, like in, uhh…" Ann took over as Gene stumbled.

"I remembered you said Verdun, right? And in 1912, when someone tried to assassinate Roosevelt… And in San Francisco, after the big quake in 1906."

Kim and Ron's faces paled at her words.

* * *

_April 12__th__, 1906_

_Kim tossed a blouse into the suitcase. Ron immediately picked it up and put it back in the drawer; prompting Kim to pick it up and throwing it back in. Ron sighed._

"_Kim, please stop this." Kim looked at him briefly, before picking up another blouse and tossing it into the suitcase. Ron frowned. "Are you gonna talk to me at all about this?" Kim stopped rooting through the drawer._

"_Are you coming with me or not?" She asked. Ron stared at her._

"_That's not what I meant, KP. Why are you doing this?" Kim frowned at his words._

"_You know why, Ron. 3000 people are gonna die in San Francisco. 400 000 people are gonna be homeless. We can help them." She turned to the drawer again, and pulled out the sock drawer._

"_Kim, we can't stop an earthquake, you know that! And even then, you're the one who's been big about keeping out of the history books, why are you suddenly changing your mind on this?" Kim stared at the sock drawer._

"_This isn't gonna make the history books, Ron. It's just helping people. I already talked to Mrs. Etheridge, and she can take care of Charlie for the next two or three weeks, I told her we were thinking about a late honeymoon before the tourist season starts again. Mrs. Norris can keep the Inn closed as well, we've got enough money for the train-"_

"_Kim, listen to me! In three years, you haven't said a word about going out there! And you're just throwing this on me now? A week before the quake?" Ron's interruption made Kim spin around, but it took a few moments for her to respond. His question hit her hard._

"_Because... Because I forgot, ok? It's sorta hard to put things in perspective when you've only read about them in the history books! But I remembered it yesterday and we've got enough time to get there. So, are you with me or not?"_

"_Hey, you're not going anywhere without your badical sidekick, KP, you know that! But we need to talk about this!" Ron raised his voice at her, but regretted it immediately. He looked over at the crib, but Charlie hadn't woken up. He took a breath._

"_Kim… Are you bored?" Kim's eyes widened at his question. "Or, if you're not bored, are you… unhappy with our lives?" Kim's jaw dropped._

"_Of course I'm not, Ron! I love you, I love Charlie! Why would you say that?" Ron sighed at hearing his wife's words._

"_Because you're willing to hop a train, leave our son behind for two weeks or more, to do stuff we haven't done in three years. Doesn't that seem… odd?" Ron looked at Kim with pleading eyes. Kim contemplated. She walked over to their dinner table and sat down. Ron followed suit. After a few moments, she spoke up._

"_I'm not bored, Ron. I don't want you to think that, ever. It's just… I miss helping people. We're doing good things with the life savers, but…" She paused, and gathered herself. "The quake in California is the only thing I can remember from this period in history, and that's because it's one of the biggest disasters in American history. I'm not saying… That I would've done more things to help if I had known more about what was gonna happen, but…. I know this is happening. And I don't wanna sit here while people are dying."_

_Ron listened to her words, and took her hand as she spoke._

"_KP… I didn't really think it was because you were bored, but… You've obviously thought about this, even before yesterday. Why didn't you tell me?" Kim shrugged at his words._

"_I don't know… It's like you said, I'm the one who's been saying how we need to keep out of history as best as we could, so…"_

"_Ok, KP, I gotcha. But… is this the only thing you've thought about doing?" Ron tried to get eye contact with her, but she looked over at Charlie instead._

"_Look at him. He's gonna be better suited to live here than you and I ever will. But he's gonna need a father, Ron. I can't do this alone." Ron frowned at her words._

"_I'm not gonna go anywhere, Kim, you know that." Ron was stunned when Kim looked at him with tears in her eyes._

"_Are you, Ron? I know you would never leave us willingly, but… There's a war coming. A big one. I don't know if you can escape it."_

"_World War I? Are you saying I'd get drafted? That's… that's what? 10 or 11 years from now? It's a long time to go, Kim."_

_Kim sat silent, looking down at the table. Finally, she lifted her head and looked at Ron._

"_I know it's not gonna happen yet. But I also know that it could. And I know that you could survive. But… I also know that we could stop it." Kim stared at Ron intently. He caught her eyes._

"_You're not talking about stopping the draft, are you, Kim? You're talking about the war, right?" Kim nodded. Ron was stunned into silence for a few moments. "How?" He managed to say, finally. Kim shrugged._

"_I don't know if it would stop it, but… It started because the Archduke of Austria-Hungary was killed in Sarajevo by Serbian separatists. After that, it was treaties and alliances that forced all other countries into the war. If we could stop that one event… Who knows? But if we do it… We might even stop the Second World War. The way the first one ended was a major reason for why the second came about, you know that."_

_Ron sat in silence as his wife finished. He stayed in that silence for a couple of moments before speaking._

"_Kim… if we stop the first war, and the second… It's too big. We'd create paradoxes all over the place. Not the least of which, I probably won't exist." Kim looked at him and nodded slowly. She already knew this part. "My mother's parents escaped from Germany because of the Nazis. If they hadn't… My mom and dad would maybe never have met. And I'm not saying I wouldn't sacrifice myself to save that many people, but… It could destroy everything."_

"_I know that. I know that you wouldn't exist. I wouldn't either, probably. I know we can't do it, for all those reasons." She fixed his eyes on him. "But we can help the people in San Francisco. It's a small risk, but… I don't know how we could live with ourselves if we knew something bad was gonna happen and we didn't do what we could to help."_

_Ron nodded slowly._

"_Alright. I'll come with you", he said, finally. Kim smiled, got up, walked over to Ron and kissed him._

"_Thanks, Ron. I couldn't do it without you. I just wish we didn't have to leave Charlie behind for so long." She frowned. She really didn't want to leave Charlie, but she remembered that she herself had once been handed over to Nana for a week when her dad and mom had been forced to go to separate conventions at the same time. If she could survive that, Charlie could too, she just knew it._

"_It's only this one time; I think he'll be ok. Besides, it'll be a great story to tell him some time, since we can't tell him about pan dimensional vortex inducers and mega weather generators and all that." Kim smiled at her loving husband._

"_Come on, Ronnie. Let's get packing." _

* * *

"We got to San Francisco alright… I don't know what those things said about us, but we mostly helped with organizing and rescuing people who were trapped in collapsed buildings. It was… horrible, the whole thing. But I'm glad we went anyway." Kim looked over at Ron as she finished. He looked back at him, then leaned over and gave her a big kiss. That argument was probably the worst they'd had while married, and even though it was resolved, and maybe wasn't that big, he still sometimes worried what would happen in 1914. He didn't want to admit that, though, and was… relieved, now that they wouldn't have to face that choice.

The parents watched as the couple on the other side of the table ended their kiss. James coughed a little, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Yeah… I think we need to check that San Francisco thing out again… but we're still here, so… Did you… Did you ever do anything other to change history? I mean… Willingly?"

This time, Kim looked embarrassed. Ron caught her look and spoke up…

"Yeah… There was one other thing we did…"

* * *

_May 12__th__, 1907_

_Ron exited the kitchen of the newly rechristened Aviator. He had heard the bell ring, and was going to tell whoever it was that had entered that dinner wouldn't be served yet. He was surprised to see his wife standing in the door. He was less surprised when she flew at him, drawing him into a big hug, and kissed him right on the lips. After a few moments, a thought entered into his mind. Did Kim really own a navy blue blouse? He pulled away; only too see his wife crying. His heart sunk. Had something happened to Charlie?_

"_I never thought I'd see you again", Kim said, while bawling huge tears. Ron was panicking now._

"_Calm down, what's wrong?" He managed to say. He almost couldn't hear his own voice over the beating of his heart. Kim stopped sobbing._

"_John, don't you recognize me? It's me, Mim! Mim Possible!" _


	8. Rewriting History part 2

**Author's note: My depiction of Mim Possible here is largely inspired by the great fic "Bleeding Through" by Mattk. Do yourself a favour and read that fic if you haven't. After you've read this chapter, that is.**

_May 12th, 1907 _

_Ron pushed the woman away from him, slightly. She didn't release her hug, but leaned away from him far enough to make him… less uncomfortable. My God, he thought, she's the splitting image of Kim! Or maybe Kim's the splitting image of her? He shook those thoughts away and responded._

"_Hey, ah… I think… there's been a misunderstanding here… My name's not John. It's Ron. Well, Ronald actually. Ronald Stoppable" He realized too late that using his actual last name was probably a dumb idea, but it was a bit too late._

_Mim now released her grip on him and took a step back, eyeing him with a confused look._

"_John, if this is some kind of joke, I shall have you know that it is not in the least bit funny!" _

"_I am not John", Ron tried again. "I… I don't even know who you're talking about! Or who you are, at that!" He lied, of course, but he had to. She stepped towards him again, this time angrily._

"_Don't presume that you can fool me, good sir! I am certain I saw a look of recognition on your face even before I spoke my name! And you just happen to be named Stoppable, just like my John? What would the odds for such an occurrence be, I wonder?" She practically spat out the last few words._

"_Hey, you just… happen to look a lot like my wife, that's all. A lot." He paused. Thank God she had mentioned John's name; that made it easier to come up with an explanation. "Did... Did you say John Stoppable?" Mim nodded slowly. "Well, that explains the likeness! John Stoppable is my… third cousin. Once removed." In reality, Ron had never grasped the whole removed cousin-system, but it sounded good as some kind of explanation._

_Mim stepped back again, eyeing him again. This time, the obvious similarities gave way to the differences between the two men. She closed her eyes and sighed._

"_I… I am ever so sorry for my behaviour, Mr. Stoppable. I will take my leave now." She moved towards the door. Ron knew he should let her leave, but something inside him was screaming not to let her leave just yet. He followed and touched her shoulder carefully._

"_Ms. Possible… I would be a gentleman if I didn't at least allow you to explain yourself. And I wouldn't be a good inn-keeper if I didn't offer you a warm meal and something to drink. Do you want to sit down for a minute?"_

_Mim looked at him suspiciously, specifically at his hand that was resting on her shoulder. He removed it quickly. After a few moments, she spoke._

"_Very well. I shall indulge you, Mr. Stoppable." She walked towards one of the tables and sat down. Just as she did, He heard the backdoor that led into the kitchen open. It could only mean one thing._

"_Ehh… I'll just go into the kitchen and prepare something then. You just sit tight, KP, I mean MP, I mean… Ms. Possible." He hurried toward the kitchen door, while Mim sat by the table and wondered why on earth he had just referred to her as a Member of Parliament._

_Ron stepped into the kitchen. As he thought, Kim was just stepping inside, Charlie by her side._

"_Hey, Ron, guess who got a clean bill of health from Dr. Robertson?" She smiled a big smile at Charlie, who broke in before Ron had a chance to answer._

"_Me, daddy! He said I was very healthy, and all my tooths looked good!" Ron burst into a grin at hearing Charlie's words.  
"That's great, little man! Now, could you just go outside and play with your cars for a minute while I talk to mommy for a while?" Charlie took on a confused look._

"_But daddy, you said I could help you in the kit-… kit-… kitCHen today!" He said, somewhat sullenly. Ron knelt down to look his son in the eyes._

"_I know, Charlie, and you will. Tell you what, since you're such a healthy little guy, I'll even let you help make me some ice cream, if you just go out and play for a while, ok?" Charlie's face shone up at the mention of making ice cream, and with a quick 'ok', he was out the door._

"_Ron… Ice cream? You know how the last attempt ended…" Her face contorted a bit, in remembrance of the Cajun horror._

"_I know, I know, listen, we've got a… fairly interesting sitch on our hands right now." Kim raised her eyebrow and waited for Ron to continue. "You remember Mim Possible? Well, she's sitting at table four!"_

_Kim's eyes widened. Her great-great-aunt? Here? This wasn't just a fairly interesting sitch; this was… a really interesting sitch._

"_What is she doing here? When did she get here?" She tried to keep her voice down as best as she could._

"_She just walked in the door and kissed me, but I don't know what she's doing here, I was just gonna sit down and talk to her when I heard you come in", Ron responded, following Kim's idea of whispering. Kim got an angry look._

"_Wait… did you just say… she kissed you?" Ohhh, man. Ron recognized that look. He held up his hands._

"_Well, she thought I was John Stoppable, and I thought she was you. Sorry, won't happen again." Kim calmed down a bit. "So… wanna go meet her?" He asked, a smile forming. Kim, on her end, squirmed quite a bit._

"_I… I don't know! Of course I want to meet her, but….What if this is one of those space-time sitches we're supposed to be careful about?"_

_Ron shrugged. That was a possibility. But then again… This was really a once in a life time chance. Kim seemed to realize this as well, as she nodded her head._

"_Ok. Let's go talk to her." She picked out a kerchief from a drawer and covered her hair with it. She then proceeded to pick up a piece of unused coal, and smudged it in her face a bit, trying to obfuscate any obvious family resemblance. She then gestured to Ron to open the door. He did so, after grabbing some already prepared casserole that had been stewing on the stove. Kim caught his idea, and grabbed a carafe of milk._

_Stepping through the door, Kim was immediately struck by how much Mim reminded her of herself. Apart from a more proper posture, the resemblance was downright uncanny. Kim almost trembled as she walked over to the table and placed the carafe in front of her relative. _

_Mim on her end, thought that there was something… eerily familiar about the young woman who stepped in from the kitchen, and she understood why Ron had mistaken her for his wife, although his wife was obviously a bit more… unkempt, at the moment._

"_Ms. Possible, this is my wife Kim. Kim, this is Ms. Possible", Ron said as he placed the food on the table._

"_Oh, please call me Mim, Mr. Stoppable", Mim replied. Seemed only right to put away the formalities, for some reason._

"_Sounds good. But only if you call me Ron. Now, Mim… What brings you to Kitty Hawk?"_

_For some reason, Mim felt a connection between herself and these two strangers. Believing she could trust them, as well as knowing she could leave at any point, she decided to tell her entire story._

_Over the next hour, she told them about how Dr. Lipsky and Miss Go had stolen the electrostatic illuminator. How she had managed to make sure that they didn't get away with it, after the fight on the Ferris wheel. How she had gotten so angry from the fight that she had taken off after them, tracking them all the way to the Badlands of Montana, before losing them altogether._

_She paused for a few moments, remembering the next part. She had returned to civilisation after searching the Badlands for two weeks and coming up short. When she came back, she heard the news. Everyone thought it was her, that she had stolen Professor Demenz' invention. With everyone against her… everyone except John, that is, she couldn't return to Middleton. She couldn't even stay in Montana, since she had used her proper name wherever she had been there._

_That was in 1904. Now, three years later, she still hadn't gotten used to a life of travelling and hiding. She had been in New York, when she had overheard a conversation regarding a chef named Stoppable in North Carolina that did could make food so good he should be working at the Savoy. Mim knew that the chances of it being her Jonathan were slim, but… She had nothing to lose. If nothing else, she could make her way down south, were she could lie low for a while._

_When she saw Ron… she was just so overwhelmed. She apologized again for her behaviour, including apologizing to Kim. Kim leaned in and asked._

"_Excuse me, Mim, but… the way you talk about John… was he your… fiancée?" Kim had barely finished her question before Mim starting blushing._

"_I… No, no, he never was anything more than a good friend. It's just…. I've been all over this country, and I have not met a single person that… that measured up to him. For all his faults. I must admit, my reaction earlier was a bit… stronger than I had anticipated, though."_

_She sighed, and Kim thought she could see tears forming in her eyes. "Even though it wouldn't do me any good to think of him at all, anymore. I should just… forget him, I suppose." She stood up, realizing she was about to start crying in the vicinity of strangers. "I am sorry, Ron, Kim, could you direct me to someplace I could wash up a bit?" Ron said that she could use the kitchen; he had plenty of fresh water in there. She exited through the door. Kim and Ron could hear faint sobbing after a few minutes._

"_KP… What are we going to do? We can't just… leave her like this!" Ron said, keeping his voice low. Kim bit her lip._

"_I know, but… We w__ould change history if we told her anything. And we can't let her stay either. They know who she is, we can't… pretend that she is someone else, they wouldn't fall for it. Do you know how many people asked if I was related to her in those early days? Some even thought I was her!" She paused, shaking her head. "God, this is so unfair. She only tried to do good and what happens? She loses her friends and family, can never go back home…" They sat in silence. Ron took her hand._

"_Have I told you lately how glad I am to have you with me?" He said._

"_Every single day, Ron", Kim replied. Suddenly, they were interrupted as Mim came back through the door. She had regained her composure, and walked over to the table._

"_I… I shall take my leave now. I thank you so much for your hospitality, but I really must be moving on." She picked up her purse and moved to the door, in quick pace._

"_Mim, wait!" Kim called out. Mim paused by the door. "Before you leave… maybe you can settle something for us?" Mim looked curious._

"_To the best of my abilities, I guess", she responded._

"_Well... Ron claims that the first time his favourite food, the taco, was served, was at the Middleton World's Fair, but I have not seen any photos of it. You were there, though. Was there a taco stand there?" Kim bit her lip as she finished her question. This might be wrong, but damn it if she wouldn't do it._

"_Yes, there was a taco stand there. John couldn't stop talking about it. It was right below the Ferris wheel," Mim responded._

"_Oh, really? Because in all the photos, I've seen, there's only a hamburger stand there. Of course, those photos were taken after your supposed heist, so I guess they could have removed it."_

_Kim could practically see the cogs turning inside Mim's head. Her eyes darted, she frowned, trying to recall the fair._

"_Yes… they must have removed it… Maybe even that same night… It wasn't a popular food item…" She paused, and regained herself. "Anyway… I must be off now. It… It was good to meet you. Thank you…. So very much." She exited through the door. Kim turned to look at Ron, who had raised his eyebrows._

"_You know what you just did, right? You might have changed history right there", he said._

"_I know, but… What could happen? It's not like she's my great-grandmother… or that John's your great-grandfather… It couldn't affect us that much, could it?" She frowned._

"_Well, no, John was my great-great-uncle, so no; it wouldn't mean I don't exist if they get together… But still…"_

"_Yeah, I know. But I couldn't…" She stopped. Ron took her hand._

"_Well, since we can't do anything about it now…I might as well tell you that I wanted to do something too. But now… you owe me one history changing moment." He smiled at her._

"_Ron… Ok, but nothing big, alright?" She looked at him tenderly, hoping he wouldn't propose inventing the television or anything._

"_Promise. It'll be something… Fairly insignificant." He grinned, and leaned in for a kiss._

"_And don't think you're out of the doghouse for kissing one of my relatives either." She said, after the kiss ended.  
"Yeah, ok, well, at least it wasn't your mom or Joss. It was someone who died 20 years before you were born. Not that that… makes it any better in my head", he concluded, which made Kim break out in laughter._

* * *

"Uh, Kim…" James said, looking as confused as the rest of the parents. "You didn't… actually change history there." Kim and Ron looked at him, both astounded. "Mim went back to Middleton, turned herself in, but they found the electrostatic illuminator and set her free."

"Yeah, and then she and John married, but since she was still mistrusted, they ended up leaving Middleton to travel the world, working to help people", Gene continued. Ann's head shot up at his words.

"Of course! Verdun! Roosevelt! New York! It wasn't you who did all that! It was Mim and John! I remember reading about how they helped to catch Roosevelt's would-be assassin, and they were helping the allies in Verdun before the US got involved in the war! And John loved tacos! It was them all along!" Ann's words sent shivers down the spines of the other parents. That would explain the various sightings of Kim and Ron; they could easily have been mistaken for Mim and John.

"Hold on a second!" Kim interjected. "She didn't go back to Middleton! We figured out what happened after we saw them in that photo at the exhibition, found the electrostatic illuminator and saved the town!" Kim looked at Ron, who nodded his head fervently at her words. James looked at them.

"No… You dreamed that you solved that mystery, but then, when you woke up, you found out that Barkin had forgotten that Mim had been exonerated. Don't you remember?"

Ron and Kim looked confused at James, then each other. Ron spoke up.

"I… I remember… I remember us saving Drakken and Shego… then we woke up, still in the museum… Did we really dream it? Both of us?" Kim shrugged. James looked intrigued.

"You know… I think maybe you really did change history after all… Maybe you did save the town and all that, but since you changed history, your memories are distorted. Perhaps the dream was a look into that other timeline, where you did save the town. Man, I think we need to get more philosophers in on this thing", he said leaning back.

"Hold on a second", Ron spoke after a few minutes silence. "Did you say that they got married? Does… Does that mean that… That Kim and I are… related?" He looked at her a bit weirdly, and she returned the look.

"Well, not really. You may share a... what would it be… second cousin or something like that, but you're not related", Jean said, which eased the minds of the couple.

"Dodged a bullet on that one", Kim said. "Thank God they were our great-great uncle and aunt!" Ron nodded, eyes wide open.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and Monique stepped in.

"Sorry to disturb the reunion here, but Charlie just woke up and he's asking for his… mom and dad", she said, grinning at Kim and Ron.

"Well, I think it's time to take break anyway", James said. "Or, rather… It's time to go home."


	9. Electricity

Charlie sat between his parents as the van drove through Middleton. He had been… well, surprised to see a car, but the sight of his parents now was even more surprising. He had seen them cry on a few occasions in his life, and that had been painful experiences. Waking up in the middle of the night, he had heard either his mother or his father sob, mumbling about their mommies or daddies, or of people he could only now connect a face to the name. On those occasions he had always lied still in his small bed until he fell asleep again, and on the day after, he had done his best to be the nicest boy ever.

Now, however, they were crying and laughing, which was… unexpected. He held their hands as they drove; sometimes they'd call out names like 'kindergarten', 'Bueno Nacho' or 'high school'. He asked them if they were ok, and they just smiled at him and said everything was fine.

Riding in a car was the best, though. He'd read about them in books and magazines, and he'd seen one or two, but he'd never ridden in one. It was scary at first, but after a while, seeing the landscape and houses go by faster than even horses could run, it got funnier and funnier. Especially when they came to a turn and Charlie felt himself involuntary lurching toward either his mommy or daddy.

His mommy and daddy had explained to him that they were gonna live in Middleton now, and Charlie had been fine with it. He'd read a lot about Colorado, and it seemed like an exciting place, with cowboys, Indians and mines. He'd asked about them, but daddy had said that Colorado was a bit different than he had read, but Charlie was gonna meet at least two cowboys, his great-uncle Slim and mommy's cousin Joss. Charlie looked forward to that meeting! A real cowboy! And cowgirl!

Eventually, the car stopped in front of a house that was one of the prettiest houses Charlie had ever seen, even in photos. When Grandpa James had said that this is where mommy grew up, Charlie's eyes grew wide. How could she ever leave a home where half the house was supported by pillars?

Kim took a deep breath before walking in through the door. She squeezed Ron's hand hard as they walked through the foyer and into the different rooms. Her head was flowing over with memories, and it was only through her desire not too fill her son's head with too much information in one day that she didn't blurt out a memory related to every little detail in every room. Seeing her Pandaroo, however, made her lose it, as she explained to Charlie how this was her most beloved toy, just like Charlie's was the little wooden Model-T that Tom Daniels had carved for him when he was two.

After going through the house, Charlie was put in the care of his uncles and Rufus, while mommy and daddy went to the kitchen to talk about things with the grandparents. Charlie had taken a liking to his uncles, even though he got really confused when they bounced sentences between them. He'd also taken a real liking to Rufus, who was just the funniest ever. He talked, and ran around Charlie's legs and jumped up on his legs and climbed up to his shoulder and laughed.

"So… Charlie, have"

"You ever been to a cinema? Because we"

"Have sort of a small one, well"

"Sort of, in the living room!"

The twincles, as Charlie had started calling them to himself since he couldn't yet tell which was which, bounced the words between them, and Charlie was almost unsure if they were really done talking when they fell silent.

"Uh, no. But I've read about them, and daddy says that we could go to one some day. Do you really have one in your house?" He asked them, incredulously. Colorado was really a different place than he had read! Had people really gotten this rich from mining gold that they could own private cinemas?

"Yeah! Come on, let's go and"

"Take a look! There's a fun show about a"

"Cat and mouse on in just a minute! It's"

"Absolutely badical!" Tim concluded. Charlie stared at him.

"What's badical?" He asked them. Jim and Tim looked at him.

"The show. Like"

"We said." Jim said. Charlie still looked confused.  
"But I don't know what badical means!" He exclaimed. The twincles stared at him. Rufus felt faint as he staggered around on Charlie's shoulder, making Charlie giggle at his antics.

One of the things they hadn't learned was that Kim and Ron had too stop using some words that were just too modern for the age they lived in, a lesson learned after Ron had used the word 'badical' to Mr. Etheridge, and then had too explain how something bad could be good, how something radical was also good, and how combining the two made it extra good. Ron had failed, spectacularly, and after that, many words had fallen to the wayside.

"It means that"

"Something is good, Charlie. But are you telling"

"Us that the son of Ron Stoppable doesn't know"

"What badical means?"

Charlie nodded, slowly and unsure.

"How about…. 'bon-diggety'?" Jim asked. Charlie shook his head again. The twincles looked at each other, and led Charlie into the living room, where they, along with Rufus, spent the next few minutes teaching Charlie a couple of new words and phrases that they thought he should know. Charlie absorbed them as best as he could.

"Ok, Charlie, I think you know"

"Enough, let's watch-" Jim was interrupted by Rufus who frantically shook his head.

"Nuh-uh! One more!" He exclaimed, and then jumped from Charlie's shoulder onto the table. He smiled big, launched one fist into the air in a victorious manner.

"Booyah!" He shouted as loud as he could. Charlie giggled.

"I know what 'booyah' means! Booyah means you're happy!" He said. The twincles looked at each other, then back at Charlie, with grins on their faces.

"Yeah, Charlie. You"

"Got that right. Now, let's"

"Watch some TV!"

In the kitchen, the conversation had a more serious tone. The parents explained how they had managed earlier to convince the school board to let Kim and Ron catch up the work they had missed while they were gone, so that they could graduate along with their friends, but now the situation had obviously taken a bit of a turn. The discussion dragged on as they debated whether or not they could go through with the original plan, if Kim and Ron should just retake the entire year next year, or if they should get a GED-diploma instead. The concern was that attempting to catch up was going to be hard enough without having to care for Charlie at the same time. Eventually, they settled on trying to catch up, feeling that if they had the support of their families, they could manage the stress.

The other part of the conversation was glossed over pretty fast; whether or not they would start doing missions again. Both Kim and Ron felt that even after catching up academically, it would be too hard to juggle college studies with taking care of Charlie while doing missions at the same time. Additionally, since they hadn't done missions on a daily basis for almost six years, it would be hard to get back to their old level. Kim did suggest that some day, they might join the Volunteer Fire Department, like they had joined the life savers of Kill Devil Hills, but that would be a discussion for a later date.

A string of other matters flew by; Kim, Ron and Charlie would, for the moment, stay with the Possibles, until they could get an apartment of their own, Charlie would be introduced to modern society as delicately as possible and, since they were unsure of the legality of the whole situation, Kim and Ron would have a second wedding, preferably as soon as could be arranged.

The grandparents smiled at the last one. Even though they knew that their kids had been married for a couple of years, it would be fantastic to see them walk down that aisle. Their mirth was subdued suddenly, when Kim brought up a point which hadn't been discussed yet.

How where they going to explain that they now not only looked older, but also had a son? If they had only been gone six months, it wouldn't have shown, but now?

James took the lead on this question. As he explained, one of the interesting things of having 300 scientists working on one problem was that you get solutions to problems you never expected as a bonus. One of those bonuses had come in the form of a theory of a time-speed chamber, as he called it.

While they hadn't actually invented it, the time-speed chamber could, theoretically, speed up time inside its four walls. While time progressed normally outside, inside the chamber, time would go by at an accelerated speed, even though those trapped inside would believe that time moved by at its usual pace. The world could be told that Kim and Ron had been trapped in a chamber like that by someone like, say, Dr. Drakken, and while only six months had gone by outside, Kim and Ron had lived for six years and had Charlie while in there. The scientific world would stand by them, and the subject of time travel could be kept secret. Kim and Ron thought the solution sounded plausible enough.

After about two hours of talking, they had solved many of the practical issues surrounding them, and walked back into the living room, where they found the tweebs, Rufus and Charlie watching TV. Charlie had been wide-eyed for almost two hours, as they went from show to show.

"Mommy, daddy, look! They have a cinema at home!" He exclaimed. Ron smiled brightly at his son, while Kim frowned at her brothers. So much for easing Charlie into the 21st century.

"You like watching this, Charlie?" Ron asked, while Kim dragged her brothers out for a stern talking to that only the mother of a four year old son could give.

"Yeah! It's badical!" Charlie replied. Rufus turned around, and gave a hearty thumbs up to Charlie for using the word right. "But, daddy? How does it work?"

Ron frowned. That was a hard question. Explaining phrenology suddenly seemed like a cakewalk.

"Well… I'm sure your uncles or Grandpa can explain that when you get a little older… But remember when mommy explained to you about electricity?" Charlie nodded emphatically. "Well, it's one of those things."

"Oh, ok", Charlie said, as he leaned back into the cough again.

* * *

_September 21__st__, 1909_

_Charlie walked over to his mother, who was standing outside Cypher House doing their laundry. He clutched the magazine he had just read in his right hand. _

"_Mommy? What's electri-sicky?" He asked holding up the magazine, which displayed a light bulb on the cover. Kim frowned. This was gonna be a hard one._

"_Well, Charlie", she said, kneeling down. "You know how you eat your food, and afterwards you feel full of energy?" Charlie nodded._

"_Uh-huh! Especially when I eat sugar!" He said. Kim frowned. Better move on before he thinks too much about that subject, she decided._

"_Well… there are some things that are like that. If you give them electricity, they can do stuff by themselves." Charlie looked at her, confused._

"_Like what?"_

"_Well, you know how daddy always has to use a whisk when he makes food? If that whisk could eat some electricity, the whisk would to the job itself, and daddy would only have to hold it in place." Well, that was one explanation, Kim decided. Charlie thought for a few moments._

"_I like whisking. I don't want and elec-… electTRIcal whisk if it's gonna do everything by itself." Kim smiled at her son's words._

"_Yes, well, it was only an example Charlie. There are many things that gets funnier and easier with electricity. But you don't have to use it if you don't want to."_

_Charlie scratched his head for a few seconds, trying to figure out what would be funnier with electricity. He decided that brushing his teeth could probably be funnier if he didn't have to brush himself. He looked at his mommy again._

"_Mommy? Can I have some sugar?" He asked. Kim sighed._

* * *

As the evening went on, the Possibles and the Stoppables ordered some food. Kim and Ron didn't even have to suggest getting Bueno Nacho-food; their parents had already figured out that this was a no-brainer. Charlie revelled in eating the food, since he recognized every food item. Finally something that was the same in Colorado and home, he thought.

Eventually, he got tired, and his mommy and daddy led him into a guest room, that was gonna be his room for a while. Charlie was a little nervous about not sleeping in the same room as his parents, but they assured him that they were just down they hall and up the stairs if he needed anything, and in the room next door were his Grandpa James and Grandma Ann, so he didn't have to be afraid. Soon enough, he fell asleep, clutching Pandaroo, while Rufus slumbered in a smaller bed on the nightstand.

"Think he's gonna be ok?" Ron asked as he and Kim walked towards her room.

"Yeah, I think so", Kim responded. "He's four; he wants to learn everything he can… I think he's gonna fit right in by the time we leave him off at pre-k." She smiled as they walked up the stairs to her room. They undressed and lay down on the bed in silence.

"Man…I have had dreams that started this way", Ron said as he turned to face his wife.

"Yeah… me too", Kim said. "You know… I've always wondered how well noises carry down to my parents' room…" She grinned as she leaned in and kissed her husband. "Wanna find out?"

"Booyah…" Ron whispered as he kissed his wife again.


	10. Prologue

**Author's note: And here we go, the final chapter. I want to thank everyone who has taken their time to read it and review it; you guys are just the best! And, as always, a special thank you goes out to captainkodak1 for writing the magnificent "Tunnel Vision", and letting me write this fic. Ok, before I get too mushy, here it is. Enjoy.**

The first few weeks went by in a flurry. There seemed to be no end to the questions from the classmates, teachers, acquaintances and people simply approaching them on the street. Kim and Ron answered them all as best as they could, within the framework of the fake story that had been brought forward. No one doubted the story, thanks in large part to the multitude of famous scientists who stepped forth to confirm that a device like the speed chamber was, indeed, a reality.

For a while, Kim suspected that, of all people, Bonnie (Bonnie!) had serious doubts. She behaved a little more apprehensive around the two former teens, and when Kim caught Bonnie eyeing them suspiciously while frowning, obviously contemplating something, she was sure the new captain of the cheerleading squad had somehow seen through the lie. Not two days later, that theory was squashed, when she overheard Bonnie talking to Marcella about the possibility of Kim or Ron perhaps being willing to get some alcohol for the big party two weeks from now. Bonnie had apparently pondered it for the last few days, but was unsure of how to approach them on the matter. Kim could barely contain her laughter when she heard it.

That was one thing about being now an adult when most of their friends were still teens. Suddenly, they felt out of place in a way that they never had before, with their greater responsibilities and increased maturity. Sometimes, it could be hard to make people realize that they could no longer be a part of the school as they had earlier. Extracurricular activities had gone out the window, as well as simply hanging out, to a large degree, in favour of spending time with Charlie. Ron coped better than Kim in this instance, being a natural outsider, but eventually, they reached a tacit understanding with their friends. Felix could still sometimes drag Ron away for some video games, Monique still dragged Kim off on shopping sprees, but it was now more the exception than the rule. Interestingly enough, the person who coped best was Mr. Barkin, who managed to treat both of them as students and as adults. He even went so far as to offer Kim and Ron access to the teacher's lounge, should the need to spend some time around other adults arise. Lord knows, he said, hanging around teenagers all day could be a strain on any grown-up. Kim and Ron found that while they didn't yet need that kind of refuge, it was good to have the opportunity.

Charlie, on his end, was acclimatizing better than expected. The twincles and Rufus were constantly explaining new concepts as best as they could, sometimes even better than Kim and Ron could. It was interesting to see, and after a while, Kim actually believed that her two brothers could one day become great teachers, if the rocket experiments didn't pan out.

What with the news of their return cooling off and their catching up well ahead of schedule, they decided to take a well earned break, five weeks into their return. It seemed like a foregone conclusion that they would take a weekend and go back to Kitty Hawk. Instead of going to their usual travel agent Wade, they booked tickets, a rental car and rooms at Cypher Hotel themselves. They decided to leave Charlie with the grandparents, at least this time around. Maybe one day, they could bring him, when he either understood that he was a time traveller, or that enough time had passed to explain why the town didn't look the same as it did when they left.

It was almost weird to set up something like that without Wade, but nowadays, he had his work cut out, half the time spent on working through the unofficial theories that had spawned from the time machine, half the time spent as James' lab assistant. James' work had never been as easy as when Wade was right behind him, and Wade had to do something now that Team Possible had taken down the site.

It was an unusually cold Friday evening when they arrived in early April. They went directly to Cypher Hotel, finding it a somewhat jarring experience. The hotel had changed quite a bit over the years, numerous turns of remodelling left only the foyer in any similar shape to what it once was. Their room was gone… Well, it would have been anyway, but now the space where it had been was shared by two single rooms that took up parts of the old neighbouring rooms.

After getting a bite to eat, they took a walk over to where The Aviator had once stood. They received another shock when they discovered that now, a Bueno Nacho-restaurant stood in its place. Ron had never felt so angry at seeing a Bueno Nacho, and even considered tagging it with graffiti. Kim managed to hold him off, though, and they walked to the hotel, somewhat more depressed than they had expected.

The next day, they took a trip out to Kill Devil Hills. Since they had left, the place had become the site of the Wright Brothers National Memorial, as a remembrance of that day in 1903. While driving there, they were again struck by the changes the town had gone through, when they found that the lifesaving station was now gone as well. They walked toward the memorial in silence until Kim spoke.

"Guess it's true. You can't go home." She looked a little sad as she said it. Ron sighed.

"Yeah, I know… I mean… I guess I knew that things would have changed, it's just…" He trailed off, trying to find the right words.

"We were here practically yesterday and now there's nothing left of what we knew? At least… nothing that seems to matter anyway", Kim said. Ron could only nod.

"I'm thinking we took this trip a little too soon", Ron said, as they came up to the place where history had been made. A large memorial stood there now, but otherwise, the area seemed largely unchanged. At least something, they thought, as the walked arm in arm. As they rounded it, they saw a couple of large tents placed on halfway up the hill. Curious, they walked down. The area had many exhibitions, but this one seemed quite new.

Inside the giant tents, there was a couple of families, and a few museum attendants, all focused on a plane from the period that was on display. They knew it wasn't they original plane, since that had held a place at the Smithsonian for years. As Kim and Ron approached it, they saw more things that were off with the whole thing.

"This is a Flyer mark 3", Ron pointed out, as he circled around it. "See the controls?" Kim nodded. They had both kept up with Wilbur and Orville's breakthroughs.

"Yeah… Pitch, yaw, roll… I wonder what it's doing here, they never flew a mark three…" She paused. She had seen something. "Oh. God, Ron, look at this!"

She pointed at one of the wooden beams the supported the overhead wing. On it, they could see it clearly carved into the wood. RAS. KAS. CJS.

"My God!" Ron whispered. "It's… It's the Kimmie Hawk!"

* * *

_October 20__th__, 1909_

_Kim approached the barn that Ron had told her to go to. It lay on the outskirts of the Outer Banks at Kill Devil Hills, not far from the lifesaving station. This should be interesting, she thought, as she reached it. Ron had been excited when he had told her to come earlier in the morning, and she had promised to come down as soon as she had cleaned up the apartment and helped Mrs. Cypher with the laundry. Ron had already taken Charlie with him, so she walked the distance alone._

_She opened the door__ and was astonished to see an airplane standing in the middle of the barn. Her eyes were wide as saucers as she stepped inside. Ron and Charlie saw her, and Ron walked over to greet her. Charlie was sitting quite comfortably in the pilot's seat._

"_You like?" Ron asked. "It's a Flyer mark 3." He smiled brightly as Kim attempted to regain her wits._

"_Wha-… How?" She could barely speak._

"_Well… You know how I've told you that I've had to take extra shifts at the station? And helping Tom build a barn?" Kim nodded. "Well… Not so much." He took her hand and walked over to the plane._

"_I got the plans from Orville and Wilbur. It's been a real hard one to build, but… I've had some help", he continued._

"_Not… Not from Charlie, right?" She asked, eyeing him. Charlie laughed._

"_No, mommy. Daddy told me today! Isn't it great? An airplane!" Charlie was positively giddy where he sat._

"_Some of the guys from the station helped out. Told them it would be good for the tourism if we could actually show off a real plane. They even talked the mayor into providing the funds for it as long as the town can use it as they see fit."_

_Kim just shook her head in disbelief. Ron had never been great at building stuff! Regardless of if he had had help, this was… astounding!_

"_Have you flown it yet?" She asked, hoping he'd say no. If anything, that was something she wanted to see._

"_Nah. And I don't know if I'm going to." Kim looked at him, frowning. He saw her confusion. "Let me explain, Kim. I'm not flying this. You are."_

_Kim's jaw fell. For the second time today, she was lost for words. Ron picked up on it._

"_You do remember that you owe me a history changing moment? Well, this is it. You're gonna be the first female pilot in history." Kim regained her mental footing and replied._

"_But Ron… This… this is too big! I mean… History books!"_

"_Yeah, well, that's only gonna be an issue if anyone finds out. And we don't have to tell anyone. It'll just be between the three of us." Ron smiled at his wife. Charlie did so as well._

"_But… but I thought that… I thought that you were gonna do something history changing, not me!" She whispered._

"_Well… I decided to change my own history instead, and actually succeed in building something big. You know, when I'm not under pressure from Drakken to build a doomsday device. So what do you say, KP? Ready to become the Aviatrix?" He wiggled his eyebrows mischievously. Kim was silent for a moment, and then broke out into a grin._

"_Anything is possible for a Stoppable", she said, as her husband and son smiled broadly. _

* * *

_ October 21__st__, 1909_

"_You got it now? Pitch, yaw, roll? Don't go to high, nothing fancy. This thing is built for economy, not speed. Or acrobatics. Or economy." Ron's tone of voice was a bit anxious. Even though he had no doubt Kim could take care of herself, he wasn't as sure about the Flyer. Sure, he had built it as meticulously as he could, but he was still placing the mother of his child in an experimental airplane. For God's sake, he thought, after two weeks, he still hadn't been able to fix those two broken legs on Charlie's bed, but he had built a (hopefully) working airplane? What was wrong with this picture?_

"_Ron, calm down. I'm not gonna do anything crazy, and I trust your building skills", Kim replied. "Now start the engine already! I'm getting antsy here!"_

_Ron nodded his head, and walked to the front of the plane. It took a few attempts, but finally, the propeller was running. He had already tested it several times, so it wasn't a surprise. Charlie, however, squeed with glee as he heard the noise. Ron took his son's hand and they stepped away from the plane. He waved to Kim, who took the controls._

_The plane lurched forward. Soon, it had picked up speed, and after bouncing a little, it took to the air. Ron and Charlie could hear Kim howling with joy as she made the plane rise toward the sky, levelling off about thirty feet above the ground. She became a bit more adventurous at that point, making a few turns, including a full 360. She had quickly grasped how the controls felt, and made the most of it. After about five minutes, she brought the plane down, landing it safely on the ground. Ron and Charlie ran up to it, happy as they had ever been._

"_Mommy, mommy! You flew! You're like… a bird! Like a hawk!"_

"_Hey, that's a good name!" Ron exclaimed. "The Kimmie Hawk!" Kim laughed as she stepped out of the seat. Charlie was quick to hug her, and Ron followed suit._

"_Come on, Charlie. You know what we say when we're happy, right?" Kim said, kneeling down to her son. Charlie nodded, and burst out in the traditional Stoppable exclamation of joy._

"_Booyah!"_

_After checking if any damage had been done, they hooked up the Kimmie Hawk to the horse they had borrowed and transported it back to the barn. On the way, Charlie carved in his initials in one of the beams, and Ron and Kim followed suit. It seemed only appropriate. After that, they went back home, still giddy over the events. They had told Charlie that he couldn't tell anyone that his mommy had flown the plane, at least not yet. He understood well enough._

_As they went to bed that night, they didn't know that the next day, in France, a woman named Raymonde de Laroche would officially become the first female pilot in history. They already knew that history would never give that title to Kim Stoppable, nee Possible, but they were fine with it. They slept in peace, until a sound at the door woke Kim up._

"_Glen, if it's another wreck, I swear I'm gonna speak unkind words to the captain for crashing at this hour," She said, remembering how Glenallen Bender had the annoying habit of interrupting their sleep on some of the most important nights of their lives. She was, however, astonished to hear another voice._

"_K-Kim? Kimmie-cub?" _

* * *

As Kim and Ron stood there, marvelling at the still preserved plane, they were approached by an attendant, who had noticed their interest.

"Can I help you, sir? Ma'am?"

"Uh… yeah… What do you know about this plane?" Kim asked, getting her thoughts together.

"Oh, lots, ma'am. It was built by a local man in 1909 as a way to increase tourism revenue. The town used it too hold flying exhibitions for years, until they built a more modern one in 1913, and after that, it has been part of some exhibit or other here, and since this was declared a national park, it's been part of our exhibition. This year we're doing it outside, since we've recently done some restoration work on it."

Kim and Ron smiled. They left the tent after having a few more moments of remembering that day five weeks ago. As they left, they found themselves walking down to the beach. They soon found themselves on another familiar spot.

"Remember when we were here last time?" Kim asked. Ron nodded. "Six years…"

"Yeah…" Ron responded. "They went by fast, didn't they?" They stood silent again, until Kim spoke.  
"You know… as scared as I was that day… I wouldn't want it any other way now. Sure, there were times when there was nothing I wanted more than to go home, but… I don't know."

"I know what you mean", Ron said. "I mean… we have Charlie… We had the Kimmie Hawk… The Aviator… We know that we can survive without the stuff we thought we needed…"

"As long as we've got each other", Kim finished. And somehow, all the difficulties the future had in store melted away as they stood there. Barkin's murderous plan for catching up, college, careers, caring for Charlie… Everything seemed less of a challenge, as they held each other's hands.

"So, where do we go from here?" Ron asked.

"Home, first. After that, who knows? I've got you and Charlie, and that's all I need. Beyond that… We can do anything", Kim said. They united in a kiss that lasted for several minutes before heading back to their car. For six years, every day they had lived through had been the past, and now, they were finally ready to meet the future. Whatever it would hold.


End file.
